Herefordshire is tucked away but it packs a punch when it comes to home-grown celebrities. We’ve had some blow-ins too, and they are worth a mention. So who have we got?

Anyone who lives in the county will agree it is a pretty special place. Home to rolling hills, historic buildings and some great people. Herefordshire is also home to all manner of celebrities from Hollywood A-Listers, famous authors and reality TV stars.

Then there are those who were born and bred here, who know those back roads around Hereford like the back of their hands and can remember the old Leisure Centre and Cattle Market. We’ve pulled together a list of some of the famous sons and daughters of Herefordshire, the stars you might spot nowadays and the ones with true links to the county.

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Ellie Goulding

Singer/songwriter/popstar, grew up in a council house in Lyonshall in north Herefordshire. She attended secondary school in nearby Kington, before completing A-Levels at Hereford’s sixth form college. A royal favourite (the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge asked her to perform at their wedding reception), she was introduced to her old Etonian husband by personal friend, Princess Eugenie.

Frank Oz

Hollywood star of Star Wars franchise, and the Muppets, Frank Oz, born Frank Richard Oznowicz, was born in Hereford in 1944. His parents, who arrived here after fleeing war-torn Holland, were professional puppeteers. By way of Belgium, Oz landed in the States with his family in 1951, and so began his own puppeting odyssey.

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Elizabeth Hurley

Actress/model and staple of tabloid gossip pages, lives in her luxurious country mansion near Ledbury. Her sister Kate lives in a cottage in the ground. Liz, star of Bedazzled and Austin Powers, is an avid of user of social media, sharing her enviable life-style to her followers.

The Pretenders

James Honeyman-Scott (guitar/vocals), Pete Farndon (bass guitar/vocals) and Martin Chambers (drums/percussion), all born in Hereford, were founding members of the Chrissie Hynde-led band, The Pretenders.

Mott the Hoople

Best known for the Dave Bowie penned hit, ‘All the Young Dudes’, was made up of some Hereford’s dudes. Guitarist Mick Ralphs was from Stoke Lacy and Pete Overend Watts and Dale Griffin were both from Ross-on-Wye.

Bruce Robinson

Actor/director/screenwriter was born in London, but has made West Herefordshire his home. His screenplay for the black comedy, Withnail and I, has become one of the all-time great British cult classics. Loosely based on Robinson’s life in London in the late 1960s, the plot follows two unemployed actors, played by Richard E Grant and Paul McGann.

Monty Don

Gardener/writer/presenter is the best-known face of the long-running BBC show, Gardener’s World. He moved to a village near Leominster in the early 1990s and set about restoring an abandoned two acre field, called Longmeadow. He later presented Gardener’s World from the site.

Kate Bliss

A TV presenter/antique expert frequently seen on television. Educated at Hereford Cathedral School, after studying fine art at Oxford University, she joined local auctioneers and valuers, Brightwells. She has had frequent appearances on TV shows Flog It! and Secret Dealers.

John Challis

AKA Boycie: actor, whose most well-known role was that of Boycie, second-hand car salesman in the popular BBC series, Only Fools and Horses. But before that he had a successful Shakespearean career. In 1998 he made Herefordshire his home, when he bought the Abbot’s Lodgings at Wigmore Abbey Grange, Adforton, which he renovated with his wife.

Lord Rogers

Ok, maybe not a household name, but a celebrity of sorts? Robert James Rogers, Baron Lisvane, KCB, DL served as Clerk of the House of Commons from October 2011 until August 2014. He was made a Life Peer in 2014, and sits as a crossbencher in the House of Lords.

Matthew Hall

Screenwriter/barrister living in south Herefordshire. A former pupil of Hereford Cathedral School, he was called to the bar in 1990, before becoming a full-time writer in 1995. His most recent TV work is the barnstorming series, Keeping Faith, for which he won a Welsh BAFTA in 2018.

Mark Labbett

An English quizzer and TV personality. Since 2009 he has been one of the “chasers” on the ITV game show The Chase and from late February 2022 re-joined the Australian version of the show. He previously appeared between 2013 and 2015 on GSN’s American version as their sole chaser; between 2016 and 2020 as one of six chasers on the Australian version; and as one of four chasers in the second season of ABC’s American revival. His nickname on these shows is “The Beast”.

Labbett was a mathematics and physical education supply teacher at Caldicot School in Caldicot, Monmouthshire just outside of our county. It is not known for sure where The Beast lives, but he has often been seen in Hereford city centre with his dog, and pubs such as the Wye Inn on the south side of the city.

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