Famous British People a to z

Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend of Raynham, was an 18th century British secretary of state who became known as "Turnip Townshend" for his agricultural innovations.

Pete Townshend is best known as the guitarist and songwriter for the band the Who as it grew to be one of the most influential bands of the 1960 and '70s.

Pierre Trudeau was the 15th prime minister of Canada, famous for his youthful energy, his stance against a separate Quebec and suppressing violent revolt.

Mary Tudor was queen of England from 1553 to 1558. She became known as "Bloody Mary" for her persecution of Protestants.

Famed mathematician Alan Turing proved in his 1936 paper, "On Computable Numbers," that a universal algorithmic method of determining truth in math cannot exist.

J.M.W. Turner was a British landscape painter of the 18th and 19th centuries whose work is known for its luminous almost abstract quality.

In the mid-1960s, Twiggy became one of the world's first supermodels and the face of London's "mod" scene.

Peter Ustinov was an English actor, writer and director who is known for his Oscar-winning performances in Spartacus (1960) and Topkapi (1964).

Punk rocker Sid Vicious became famous as bassist for the Sex Pistols before his entanglement with drugs and Nancy Spungen ended his career and life.

Businessman Claus Von Bulow was twice accused of attempting to kill his socialite wife, a diabetic, with doses of insulin, and was defended by Alan Dershowitz.

Actor Jack Wagner rose to fame as the rocker Frisco Jones on the daytime soap opera General Hospital.

William Wallace, a Scottish knight, became a central early figure in the wars to secure Scottish freedom from the English, becoming one of his country's greatest national heroes.

After working in Europe for decades, actor Christoph Waltz caught the attention of American audiences with his role in Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds.

Roger Waters was the singer, songwriter and bassist for the British rock band Pink Floyd. He also has had an extensive solo career.

Charlie Watts is best known for playing drums as part of the famed rock 'n' roll group the Rolling Stones. He is also a noted jazz musician.

Actress Naomi Watts starred in Mulholland Drive and The Ring. She's also a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations, and works on HIV/AIDS awareness programs.

Hugo Weaving is best known for playing Agent Smith in the Matrix film trilogy and Elrond in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

Composer. Andrew Lloyd Webber is an English composer known for such musical theater hits as Cats, Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Phantom of the Opera.

British actress and model Rachel Weisz is best known for her performances in The Mummy, Stealing Beauty and The Constant Gardener.

Florence Welch is the lead singer of the English indie rock band Florence and the Machine. She can be heard on popular songs such as "Kiss with a Fist" and "Shake It Out."

H.G. Wells was a writer of science-fiction works—including The Time Machine and War of the Worlds—who had a great influence on our vision of the future.

Samuel West is a British actor best known for his roles in the films Howards End, Notting Hill, Van Helsing and Hyde Park on Hudson.

Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood helped set the style for modern punk and New Wave music.

British actor Ben Whishaw is best known for playing Freddie Lyon on the television series The Hour and Q in the 2012 film Skyfall.

John White was a British artist, explorer, cartographer and governor of the English settlement on Roanoke Island (now in North Carolina, U.S.).

T.H. White was an English writer known for his novel series about King Arthur, The Once and Future King.

British musician and producer Alan Wilder is best known as a keyboardist and songwriter for the band Depeche Mode. Wilder wrote songs like "The Great Outdoors," "The Landscape Is Changing" and "In Your Memory."

English actor Tom Wilkinson is best known for his Oscar-nominated roles in the films In the Bedroom and Michael Clayton.

Olivia Williams is a British actress known for appearing in such films as Rushmore, The Postman and Hyde park on Hudson.

Singer Robbie Williams got his start in the boy band Take That, before becoming a best-selling solo singer.

Richard Wilson is one of Britain's earliest landscape painters and is best known for the picturesque effects and serenity in his pieces.

Amy Winehouse won five Grammy Awards for her 2006 album Back to Black, and is remembered for songs like "Rehab," "Back to Black" and "Valerie." She died in 2011, at age 27.

English actress Anna Wing is known for her long career on stage and screen, but most of all for her role on the long-running television series EastEnders.

Oscar winner Kate Winslet has starred in a number of acclaimed dramas and comedies. She first gained fame in the blockbuster Titanic.

Anna Wintour is best known as the influential editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine, and for her iconic pageboy haircut and large sunglasses.

Mary Wollstonecraft was an English writer who advocated for women's equality. Her book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman pressed for educational reforms.

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was lord chancellor during the reign of Henry VIII, becoming a major figure in the king’s administration.

English rocker Ron Wood became the Rolling Stones' guitarist in the mid-1970s, and is now a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.

English Writer Virginia Woolf became famous for her nonlinear prose style, especially noted in her novels Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse.

Bill Wyman is best known for being the bass player for The Rolling Stones with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

Thom Yorke is the lead singer and songwriter of the English alternative rock band Radiohead, whose hit albums include OK Computer and The Bends.

Graham Young is best known as the Teacup Poisoner, responsible for the killing of at least three people in England.

Convicted terrorist. Born May 30, 1968 in Morlaix, France. Raised by a single mother, Moussaoui received his master's degree in international business from London??s South Bank University in 1995. By 1996, he was meeting with Islamic extremists in London

Catherine Zeta-Jones is a Tony Award-winning Welsh actress who's married to actor Michael Douglas.