Northampton

Northampton (pronunciation ) is a big market town and a local government district of the East Midlands part of the United Kingdom. The district has a population of 200,100 people.

Borough of Northampton
Town & Borough
Northampton Guildhall, built in 1864
Northampton
Coordinates: 52.198697°N 0.873928°W / 52.198697; -0.873928
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	East Midlands
Ceremonial county	Northamptonshire
Admin. HQ	Northampton
Government
• Type	Northampton Borough Council Mayor of the Borough and Chair 2011–2012 Cllr Jamie Lane[1]
• Leadership:	Leader & Cabinet Cllr David Palethorpe[1]
• Executive:	Conservative
• MPs:	Brian Binley, Michael Ellis
Area
• Total	31.18 sq mi (80.76 km2)
• Rank	Ranked 262nd
Population  (2005 est.)
• Total	195,000
• Rank	Ranked 70th
• Density	6,300/sq mi (2,400/km2)
Demonym	Northamptonian
Time zone	UTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (British Summer Time)
Postcode	NN1-NN6
ONS code	34UF
Ethnicity	86.1% White 6.4% S.Asian 3.9% Black British 2.1% Mixed Race 2.3% Chinese or other[2]
Website	northampton.gov.uk

Northampton has a major entertainment centre called the Derngate.

Twin towns

• Marburg in Germany
• Poitiers in France

Notable residents

Modern

• Steve Flint, aged 19, represented Northamptonshire at the 1980 Inter-Counties Championships One Mile, winning in a time of 3 minutes 58 seconds, making him one of only four teenage sub-four minute milers in the UK.

• Composer William Alwyn (1905-1985) was born in the town.
• Composer Sir Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006) was born in Northampton.
• Judy Carne, born Joyce Botterill on April 27, 1939 in the town, is an actress who may be best remembered for her introducing the phrase "Sock it to me!" while a regular on Laugh-In.
• Comedian Alan Carr attended what is now Weston Favell School. His father Graham Carr managed the Town's football club at the time.
• Scientist Francis Crick, born in the town in 1916, along with James D. Watson discovered the structure of DNA, and went on to win a Nobel Prize. In December 2005, a public sculpture called Discovery by Lucy Glendinning was erected in Abington Street as a memorial to Crick .
• Journalist and broadcaster Andrew Collins is from Northampton and wrote about growing up in the town in his memoir Where Did It All Go Right?.
• Actress Joan Hickson, famous for playing Miss Marple, comes from Kingsthorpe.
• Birds of a Feather actress Lesley Joseph grew up in the town.
• Actor Robert Llewellyn (Kryten from Red Dwarf) was also born in the town, and lived at 47 Booth Rise until the age of 13 (source: Anglian TV's Celebrity Going Home: Robert Llewellyn (2004))
• Writer Alan Moore, creator of V for Vendetta, Watchmen, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, is a lifelong resident of Northampton. His novel Voice of the Fire is a fictionalized history of the town.
• BBC radio presenter Anna Murby comes from the county.
• Nanette Newman, actress and author, was born in Northampton.
• Des O'Connor lived in Northampton, worked at Church's for some years and played for the Cobblers (Northampton Town Football Club).
• Myrea Pettit, renowned fantasy artist of fairies, flowers and butterflies learned her craft in Northamptonshire.
• Jo Whiley, the BBC Radio 1 DJ was born in the town in 1965.
• The late Delia Derbyshire, who was behind the original version of the Doctor Who theme tune, spent her final years in the town.
• Blue Peter's Peter Purves lived in the nearby village of Cogenhoe.
• Composer Edmund Rubbra (1901-1986) was born in the town.
• Professional wrestler Norman Smiley was born in the town.
• Nearby is Althorp, the country estate of Earl Spencer where Diana, Princess of Wales is buried. Charles Spencer, the current and 9th Earl Spencer (b. 1964) is her brother.
• Television presenter Michael Underwood lives in the town.
• Marc Warren, who plays Danny Blue in the BBC's Hustle series, was born in Kingsthorpe.
• Stuart Pearson Wright, award winning artist was born in Northampton in 1975.
• Lorna Fitzgerald, who plays Abi Branning in Eastenders lives in Hunsbury
• Issim Ullah, acclaimed late Bangladeshi businessman, landlord and soldier lived in Spencer.

Historical

• Elizabeth Bowen, 20th century Anglo-Irish writer, lived here after her marriage.
• Charles Bradlaugh, the famous radical MP, was a member for the town.
• Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)- a puritan poet later based in Massachusetts.
• Alban Butler (1710-1773) - the author of Lives of the Saints
• John Clare, the poet, was sectioned in the local madhouse, where he remained until his death in 1864.
• Errol Flynn acted in the Northampton Repertory Theatre between 1933 and 1935.
• Jerome K. Jerome, author of Three Men in a Boat and other works, died in Northampton in 1927.
• Spencer Perceval was a local MP and Prime Minister. He was shot in the House of Commons by assassin John Bellingham in 1812.
• Victorian cricketer and pioneer missionary Charles ("C.T.") Studd who played in the first Ashes test, was born at Spratton.

Musical

• Bauhaus (band)
• The Departure
• Mark Griffiths, bass player with Shadows, Cliff Richard, David Essex, Matthews Southern Comfort
• Faye Tozer, singer from pop group Steps

Other

• Northampton was used as the town location for Keeping Up Appearances between 1990-1995.