Worcester, England

During the 7th-century period under the Angles of Mercia, the town was known as Weogorna which evolved from the Old English "Weogorna ceaster," meaning "the Roman town of the Weogoran people". The "cester" part of the name, derived from 'ceaster', indicates that the place was built on the site of a Roman military settlement or town; the word ‘castle’ is derived from the same source. ==History==

Early history A trade route past Worcester dating from Neolithic times became the Roman Icknield Street included a ford crossing the River Severn, which was tidal below Worcester, and around 400 BC linked Celtic built British hillforts. Evidence exists that Iron Age defensive ditches may have been constructed in the first century AD, while there are no signs of Roman military use or of municipal buildings to indicate an administrative role. By the 3rd century AD, Roman Worcester was larger than the later medieval city but shrank to a defended position on the river's southern end. and Eadnoth By the 7th century, following centuries of warfare with the Vikings, Worcester had become a centre for the Anglo-Saxon army. In 680, Worcester was chosen by the Hwicce as their fort over the larger Gloucester fort. Following their conquest of England, in 1069 the Normans completed a Motte and Bailey castle just south of the cathedral on what had been a cemetery for the cathedral monks. Nothing now remains of the former Worcester Castle. During the early medieval period, Worcester's position as the only river crossing between the bridges at Gloucester and Bridgnorth led to its growth as a market town on the main road from London to mid-Wales running through to Kidderminster, Bridgnorth, and Shrewsbury. Worcester continued to be a centre of religious life. Several monasteries were established which provided a hospital and education, including Worcester School. Parts of the city were destroyed by fire during a civil war between King Stephen and Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I in 1139, 1150 and 1151. A later fire in 1189 destroyed much of the city for the fourth time that century. and in 1219 strict rules were imposed on Jews within the diocese. In 1263 the Jews were attacked by baronial forces and most were killed. and the suburbs extended beyond the city walls. The city was designated a county corporate in 1621, giving it autonomy from local government and permitting governance by a mayor and co-opted councillors. The Battle of Worcester, the final conflict of the wars, was fought from the Royalist Headquarters at the Commandery but ended with a victory for the Oliver Cromwell forces of 30,000 men. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, and during the 18th century Worcester experienced significant economic growth, and in 1748 Daniel Defoe could note that 'the inhabitants are generally esteemed rich, being full of business, occasioned chiefly by the clothing-trade'. The Royal Worcester Porcelain Company was established in 1751. However, significant poverty existed, and in 1794 a large workhouse was built at Tallow Hill. Many public buildings were built or rebuilt in this period, including the Grade I listed Worcester Guildhall, The annual Three Choirs Festival and horse races on Pitchcroft attracts many visitors. By the late 18th century Worcester's cloth industry had developed into a major centre for glove-making industry, employing around 30,000 people in the area at its peak employed by over 150 firms making half the gloves in Britain and with large worldwide exports. Riots took place in 1831 reflecting discontent with the city administration and the lack of democratic representation. In 1815 the Worcester and Birmingham Canal opened. Railways reached Worcester in 1850 with Shrub Hill station and Foregate Street stationin the middle of the city was opened in 1860. The railways created many jobs building passenger coaches and signalling in the Worcester Engine Works alongside Shrub Hill Station. Their 1864 polychrome brick building was probably designed by Thomas Dickson. The British Medical Association (BMA) was founded in 1832 in the board room of the old Worcester Royal Infirmary building in Castle Street. 20th century to present The Foregate Street cast-iron railway bridge was remodelled by the Great Western Railway in 1908 with a decorative cast-iron exterior serving no structural purpose. By the mid-20th century, only a few Worcester glove firms survived, as gloves became less fashionable and free trade enabled cheaper imports from the Far East. Nevertheless, at least three glove manufacturers survived into the late 20th century: Dent Allcroft, Fownes and Milore. In the 1940s, some Jewish refugees from Europe settled in Worcester. Emil Rich, a refugee from Germany, founded one of Worcester's last remaining glovemakers, Milore Glove Factory. Queen Elizabeth II's coronation gloves were designed by Emil Rich and manufactured in the Worcester factory. In the 1950s and 1960s large areas of the medieval centre of Worcester were demolished and rebuilt. This was condemned by many such as Nikolaus Pevsner who described it as a "totally incomprehensible... act of self-mutilation". A significant area of medieval Worcester remains, with well-preserved examples of half-timbered Tudor houses in the shopping streets of City Walls Road, Friar Street and New Street. ==Governance==

Worcester is administered by two tiers of local government: the non-metropolitan city district by Worcester City Council, and the non-metropolitan county level by Worcestershire County Council. The two civil parishes within the city of Warndon and St Peter the Great County, form a third tier of local government in those areas; the rest of the city is an unparished area. Worcester forms one of the six local government districts within the county. , headquarters of Worcestershire County Council Worcester City Council is based at Worcester Guildhall on the High Street in the city centre. Worcestershire County Council also has its headquarters in Worcester, being based at County Hall in Spetchley Road, on the eastern outskirts of the city. Worcester was an ancient borough which had held city status from time immemorial. When elected county councils were established in 1889, the city was considered large enough to run its own county-level services and so it became a county borough, independent from the surrounding Worcestershire County Council. The city was reformed to become a non-metropolitan district in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The city's territory was enlarged to gaining the parishes of Warndon and St Peter the Great County, and it was transferred to the short-lived combined county of Hereford and Worcester, which was re-established as separate counties again in 1998, since which time the Worcestershire County Council has been the upper-tier authority for Worcester. The seat of Worcester's one constituency has been held by Tom Collins of the Labour Party since the July 2024 general election. Coat of arms The city of Worcester is unusual among English cities in having an arms of alliance as the main part of its coat of arms. The shield on the dexter side is the "ancient" arms: Quarterly sable and gules, a castle triple-towered argent. First recorded in 1569 but probably older, there is little doubt that it refers to the Worcester Castle, now vanished. The shield on the sinister side is the "modern" arms: Argent, a fess between three pears sable. Despite its name, the modern arms goes back to 1634. It is said to represent a visit of Queen Elizabeth I to the city in 1575, when according to folklore, she saw a tree with black pears on Foregate and was so impressed with it that she allowed Worcester to have pears on its coat of arms. The city has used several mottos: one is Floreat semper fidelis civitas, Latin for "Let the faithful city ever flourish", while the one currently used is Civitas in bello et pace fidelis (A city faithful in peace and war). Both refer to Worcester's support for Royalists in the English Civil War. File:Castle shield on Foregate railway bridge, Worcester - geograph.org.uk - 1629621.jpg|The "ancient" arms of the city on the railway bridge near Foregate Street station File:Black Pear shield on Foregate railway bridge - geograph.org.uk - 1628858.jpg|The "modern" arms of the city on the railway bridge near Foregate Street station File:Gate, Cripplegate Park, Worcester - geograph.org.uk - 1329819.jpg|The coat of arms as shown on the entrance gate to Cripplegate Park File:Guildhall Coat of Arms - geograph.org.uk - 1066268.jpg|The coat of arms as shown in the Guildhall, with the "modern" placed over the "ancient" ==Geography==

The district is bounded by the districts of Malvern Hills to the west, and Wychavon to the east. The population of the local government district in 2021 was 103,837. Notable suburbs include Barbourne, Blackpole, Cherry Orchard, Claines, Diglis, Dines Green, Henwick, Northwick, Red Hill, Ronkswood, St Peter the Great (also known as St Peter's), Tolladine, Warndon and Warndon Villages. Most of Worcester is on the eastern side of the River Severn. However, Henwick, Lower Wick, St John's and Dines Green are on the western side. Climate Worcester enjoys a temperate climate with generally warm summers and mild winters. However, it can experience more extreme weather and flooding is often a problem. This recurred in 2014. During the winters of 2009–2010 and 2010–2011, the city underwent long periods of sub-freezing temperatures and heavy snowfalls. In December 2010 the temperature dropped to in nearby Pershore. Between 1990 and 2003, weather data for the area was collected at Barbourne, Worcester. Since the closure of this weather station, the nearest is located at Pershore. }} Green belt Worcester is in a regional green belt that extends into the surrounding counties. It is set to reduce urban sprawl between the cities and towns in the nearby West Midlands conurbations centred round Birmingham and Coventry, to discourage further convergence, protect the identity of outlying communities, encourage brownfield reuse, and preserve nearby countryside. This is done by restricting inappropriate development within the designated areas and imposing strict conditions on permitted building. Within the city boundary, there is a small area of green belt north of the Worcester and Birmingham canal and of the Perdiswell and Northwick suburbs. This is part of a larger isolated tract south of the main green belt that extends into the adjacent Wychavon district, minimising urban sprawl between Fernhill Heath and Droitwich Spa, and keeping them separate. The green belt was first drawn up under Worcestershire County Council in 1975; the size within the borough in 2017 amounted to some . ==Demography and religion==

The 2011 census put Worcester's population at 98,768. About 93.4 per cent were classed as white, of whom 89.1 percentage points were White British – higher than the national average. The largest religious group consisted of Christians, with 63.7 per cent of the city's population. and Baptist churches, a large centre for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a small number of Islamic mosques and a number of smaller groups for oriental religions such as Buddhism and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Worcester is the seat of a Church of England bishop, whose official signature is the personal Christian name followed by Wigorn. (abbreviating the Latin Wigorniensis, meaning of Worcester). This is also used occasionally to abbreviate the name of the county. The previous Archdeacon of Worcester, Robert Jones, inducted in November 2014, had been Rector of St Barnabas with Christ Church in Worcester for eight years. He retired on 30 November 2023 ==Economy==

Manufacturing advertisement (1900) One of Worcester's famous products, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce, is made and bottled at a Midland Road factory, its home since 16 October 1897. Lea and Perrins originally partnered a chemist's shop on the site of the Debenhams's store in Crowngate Shopping Centre. Worcester has what is claimed to be the oldest newspaper in the world still in publication: ''Berrow's Worcester Journal''. It traces its descent from a news-sheet started in 1690. The foundry heritage of the city is represented by Morganite Crucible at Norton which produces graphitic shaped products and cements for use in the modern industry. Worcester Heating Systems was started in the city in 1962 by Cecil Duckworth. The company was bought by Bosch and renamed Worcester Bosch in 1996. Retail trade The city is a major retail centre, with several covered shopping centres to accommodate the major chains and many independent shops and restaurants, particularly in Friar Street and New Street. Worcester's main shopping centre is the High Street, with several major retail chains. The High Street was controversially part-modernised in 2005, and further modernised in 2015; with current redevelopment of Cathedral Plaza and Lychgate Shopping Centre. Much of the protest came at the felling of old trees, the duration of the work (caused by weather and an archaeological find) and removal of flagstones outside the city's 18th-century Guildhall. The other main thoroughfares are the Shambles and Broad Street. The Cross and its immediate surrounding area are the city's financial centre for most of Worcester's main bank branches. CrownGate Shopping Centre, Cathedral Plaza and Reindeer Court are the three main covered shopping centres in the city centre and immediately east of the city centre is the unenclosed shopping area of Shrub Hill Retail Park in the St Martin's Quarter. The inner suburb shopping centres, the Elgar and Blackpole retail parks are located in the Blackpole district and include many nation-wide retail chains. ==Amenities and landmarks==

at night The most famous landmark in Worcester is the Anglican Worcester Cathedral. Officially the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, it was known as Worcester Priory before the English Reformation. Construction began in 1084. Its crypt dates from the 11th century. It includes the only circular chapter house in the country. It houses the tombs of King John and Prince Arthur. Near the cathedral is the spire of St Andrew's Church, which is all that remains after church was demolished in 1949 due to being unsafe. Known as Glover's Needle from the city's association with the glove-making industry, it has the steepest church spire in the UK. The Parish Church of St Helen, on the north side of the High Street, is mainly medieval, with a west tower rebuilt in 1813. The east end, re-fenestration and porch were completed by Frederick Preedy in 1857–1863. There was further restoration, by Aston Webb in 1879–1880. It is a Grade II*listed building. The high-water marks from the flood of 1670 and more recent flood levels are shown on a brass plate on a wall adjacent to the path along the river that leads to the cathedral. Museums include Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum, Greyfriars' House, the Infirmary Museum, Tudor House Museum, George Marshall Medical Museum, RAF Defford Museum, Museum of Royal Worcester, Mercian Regiment Museum, the Commandery, and Worcestershire Yeomanry Museum. The Battle of Worcester site is just south of the city. Limited parts of Worcester's city wall remain. The Hive, on the north side of the River Severn at the former cattle market site, is Worcester's joint public and university library and archive centre, heralded as "the first of its kind in Europe", and a prominent feature on the skyline. With seven towers and a golden rooftop, it has gained recognition, winning two international awards for building design and sustainability. The city's three main open spaces: Gheluvelt Park in the Barbourne inner-city suburb of the city, and Fort Royal Park in the south-east of the city a short walk from the Commandery on the site of the last battle of the English Civil War in 1651. The large Gheluvelt Park commemorates the part played by Worcestershire Regiment's 2nd Battalion in the Battle of Gheluvelt in the First World War; and Cripplegate Park, located on the right bank after the bridge, adjacent to the Worcester County Cricket ground, which has a wide variety of leisure facilities serving the western suburbs. An additional large area known as Pitchcroft close to the city centre on the east bank of the River Severn next to the railway viaduct, is an open public space except on days when it is used for horse racing. A statue of the composer Edward Elgar, commissioned from Kenneth Potts and unveiled in 1981, stands at the end of Worcester High Street facing the cathedral, a few metres from the original location of his father's music shop which was demolished in the 1960s. Elgar's birthplace was the nearby village of Broadheath. Plaques installed in the city include a dedication to the medieval Jewish community at Copenhagen Street. The city has two large wooded areas: Perry Wood and Nunnery Wood . Perry Wood is often said to be where Oliver Cromwell met and made a pact with the Devil. Nunnery Wood is integral to the adjacent Worcester Woods Country Park, which is adjacent to the County Hall on the east side of the city. ==Transport==

Road The M5 Motorway runs north–south immediately to the east of the city. It is accessed by junction 6 (Worcester North) and junction 7 (Worcester South). It connects Worcester to most parts of the country, including London, which is only using the A44 scenic route via the Cotswolds and M40. A faster journey to London but with an increased distance of goes via the M5, M42 and M40 motorways. The main roads through the city include the A449 road south-west to Malvern and north to Kidderminster. The A44 runs south-east to Evesham and west to Leominster and Aberystwyth and crosses Worcester Bridge. The A38 trunk road runs south to Tewkesbury and Gloucester and north-north-east to Droitwich and Bromsgrove and Birmingham. The A4103 goes west-south-west to Hereford. The A422 heads east to Alcester, branching from the A44 a mile east of the M5. The city is partly ringed by A4440. Carrington Bridge on the A4440 is the second road bridge across the Severn. Opened on 20 April 1985 after decades of pressure for a second bridge to relieve traffic over the narrow city centre bridge, it links the A38 from Worcester towards Gloucester with the A449 to Malvern. It is one of Worcestershire's busiest roads. The single-carriageway bridge was doubled with work being completed on 5 August 2022, making the Southern Link Road dual between junction 7 of the M5 and Powick Roundabout. As of 2025 it remains the only river crossing in the between Worcester and Upton-upon-Severn. Rail Worcester is served by three stations. is in the middle of the city centre, is located just over to the east, and which opened in 2020 is located the south-east of the city centre. Together, they serve all stations in the county and have frequent trains to Birmingham and the North, Oxford and London (Paddington), Malvern and Hereford, and Cardiff, Bristol, and the West Country. Buses The main operator in and around the city is First Midland Red. A few smaller operators provide services in Worcester, including Astons, DRM and LMS Travel. Diamond Bus operates a service from Kidderminster to communities along the A449. The terminus and interchange for many bus services is Crowngate bus station in the city centre. The city had two park and ride sites: off the A38 in Perdiswell and at Sixways Stadium next to the M5. Worcestershire County Council voted to close both in 2014 as part of a package of cutbacks. The service at Sixways Stadium has since been reinstated, with LMS Travel operating the W3 route to Worcestershire Royal Hospital, but avoiding the city centre bus station. Air Worcester's nearest airport is Birmingham International away, which is accessible by motorway (40 minutes) and rail from via Birmingham New Street station where trains leave every few minutes (202 trains per day) taking 10 - 12 minutes direct to the airport on the Birmingham - London line. Gloucestershire Airport in Staverton at about away at 29 minutes by motorway is the busiest general aviation airport in the UK for business and private charter, flying clubs, and private and commercial pilot training. Cycling over the River Severn Worcester is on routes 45 and 46 of the National Cycle Network. There are various routes around the city. Diglis Bridge, a pedestrian and Cycle bridge across the Severn, opened in 2010 to St Peter's with Lower Wick. Beryl bikes were introduced in 2024 to hire across Worcester, providing 175 e-bikes and 50 pedal bikes, from a network of 53 bays. Waterways The River Severn is navigable through Worcester, and here it links to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, which connects Worcester with Birmingham and the rest of the national canal network. Historically used for the transport of goods, the canal network is now used for leisure boating. ==Education==

The high schools located in the city are Bishop Perowne CofE College, Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College, Christopher Whitehead Language College, Tudor Grange Academy, Nunnery Wood High School, and the New College Worcester which caters for blind and partially sighted pupils aged 11–18. Independent schools in the city include some of the oldest schools in the country The Royal Grammar School (founded in 1291) and Alice Ottley School merged in 2007. The King's School located in the grounds of Worcester Cathedral was re-founded in 1541 under King Henry VIII. Other independent schools include the Independent Christian School, the River School in Fernhill Heath, and New College Worcester. The University of Worcester was awarded university status in 2005 by the Privy Council, previously known since 1997 as University College Worcester (UCW) and before that as Worcester College of Higher Education. The city is also home to two colleges, Worcester Sixth Form College and Heart of Worcestershire College. ==Hospitals==

The Worcestershire Royal Hospital is the principal NHS hospital serving the city and county of Worcester. It opened in 2002, replacing the Worcester Royal Infirmary. The former Worcester Eye Hospital was based in the Grade II listed Thornloe House, Barbourne Road, from 1940 to 1995. St Oswald's Hospital on the Tything was founded as alsmhouses and is now a care home. ==Sport==

• Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first-class cricket clubs that contest the County Championship. The club's home is the New Road cricket ground. • Worcester City Football Club, established in 1902, plays in the Southern Football League Premier Division Central, the seventh tier of English football. • Worcester Sorcerers Baseball Club, whose home ground is Norton Parish Hall • Worcester Hockey Club has teams entered in the West Hockey Leagues. • Worcester St Johns Cycling Club • Worcester Wolves, a professional basketball team in the British Basketball League, plays at the Worcester Arena. • Worcester Racecourse is on an open area known as "Pitchcroft" on the east bank of the River Severn. • Worcester Rugby Football Club is an amateur rugby union club, founded in 1871. • Worcester Raiders F.C., a professional football club • Worcester Warriors, a professional rugby union club • Worcester City Women FC, National League Women's team, who play at Sixways Stadium ==Culture==

Festivals and shows Every three years Worcester becomes home to the Three Choirs Festival, which dates from the 18th century and is credited with being the oldest music festival in the British Isles. The location rotates between the cathedral cities of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester. Famous for championing English music, especially that of Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst, Worcester hosted the festival in July 2017, but had to postpone its 2020 festival until 2021. The Worcester Festival (established in 2003 by Chris Jaeger MBE) occurs in August and consists of music, theatre, cinema and workshop events, along with a beer festival. For one weekend a year the city plays host to the Worcester Music Festival – a weekend of original music performed predominantly by local bands and musicians. All performances are free and take place around the city centre in bars, clubs, community buildings, churches and the central library. Founded in 2012, the Worcester Film Festival, places Worcestershire on the film-making map and encourages local people to get involved in making film. The first festival took place at the Hive and included screenings, workshops and talks. The Victorian-themed Christmas Fayre is a busy event in late November/early December, with over 200 stalls lining the streets, and over 100,000 visitors. The CAMRA Worcester Beer, Cider and Perry Festival takes place for three days each August on Pitchcroft Race Course. Arts and cinema The 18th-century actress Sarah Siddons made her acting début at the Theatre Royal in Angel Street. Her sister, the novelist Ann Julia Kemble Hatton, otherwise Ann of Swansea, was born in the city. Stars who started their careers in the Worcester Repertory Company and the Swan Theatre include Imelda Staunton, Sean Pertwee, Celia Imrie, Rufus Norris, Kevin Whately and Bonnie Langford. Huntingdon Hall is a historic church now used as venue for an eclectic range of musical and comedy performances. Work began in 2025 and the venue is expected to open in late 2026. The northern suburb of Northwick has the Art Deco Northwick Cinema. Built in 1938, it contains one of only two remaining interiors in Britain designed by John Alexander. The original perspective drawings are held by RIBA. It was a bingo hall from 1966 to 1982, then empty until 1991, a music venue until 1996, and empty again until autumn 2006, when it became an antiques and lifestyle centre, owned by Grey's Interiors, which was previously located in the Tything. Media Newspapers Radio stations Television Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC West Midlands and ITV Central from the Ridge Hill TV transmitter. ==In popular culture==

Mildred Arkell The depression that hit the Worcester glove industry in the 1820s and 1830s is the background to a three-volume novel, Mildred Arkell, by the Victorian novelist Ellen Wood (then Mrs Henry Wood). Cadfael Chronicles The well-researched historical novel The Virgin in the Ice, part of Ellis Peters' The Cadfael Chronicles series, depicts Worcester at the time of the Anarchy. It begins with the words: "It was early in November of 1139 that the tide of civil war, lately so sluggish and inactive, rose suddenly to wash over the city of Worcester, wash away half of its livestock, property and women and send all those of its inhabitants who could get away in time scurrying for their lives northwards away from the marauders." (These are mentioned as arriving from Gloucester, leaving a long-lasting legacy of bitterness between the two cities.) ==Twinning==

Worcester is twinned with: • Kleve, Germany (the home of Anne of Cleves, the fourth wife of Henry VIII) • Le Vésinet, France • Worcester, Massachusetts, US • Ukmergė, Lithuania ==Notable people==

In birth order: • Hannah Snell (1723–1792), famous for impersonating a man and enlisting in the Royal Marines, born and brought up in Worcester • Elizabeth Blower (c. 1757/63 – post-1816), novelist, poet and actress, born and raised in Worcester • Ann Hatton (1764–1838), writer of the Kemble family, born in Worcester • James White (1775–1820), founder of first advertising agency in 1800 in London, born in Worcester • John Mathew Gutch (1776–1861), journalist; lived with his second wife at Barbourne, a suburb north of Worcester, from 1823 until his death • Jabez Allies (1787–1856), Worcestershire folklorist and antiquarian lived at Lower Wick, now part of Worcester • Sir Charles Hastings (1794–1866), British Medical Association founder, attended Worcester Royal Grammar School and lived in Worcester for most of his life, spending his final years in Malvern • Revd Thomas Davis (1804–1887), hymn-writer, born in Worcester • Philip Henry Gosse (1810–1888), naturalist, born in Worcester • Mrs. Henry Wood (1814–1887), writer, born in Worcester • Alexander Clunes Sheriff (1816–1878), city alderman, businessman and Liberal MP, grew up in Worcester • Edward Leader Williams (1828–1910), designer of the Manchester Ship Canal, born and brought up at Diglis House in Worcester • Benjamin Williams Leader (1831–1923), brother of Edward Leader Williams, landscape artist • Sir Thomas Brock (1847–1922), sculptor, best known for the London Victoria Memorial, born in Worcester in 1847; Worcestershire Royal Hospital is in a road named after him • Vesta Tilley (1864–1952), music hall performer who adopted this stage name aged 11, born in Worcester; became a noted male impersonator • Sir Edward Elgar (1857–1934), composer, born in Lower Broadheath, just outside Worcester, and lived in the city from the age of two • William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield (1877–1963), founder of Morris Motors and philanthropist, spent the first three years in Worcester • Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy (1883–1929, "Woodbine Willy"), poet and author, vicar of St Paul's Church • Louise Johnson (1940–2012), biochemist and protein crystallographer, born in Worcester • Timothy Garden, Baron Garden (1944–2007), air marshal and Liberal Democrat politician, born and educated in Worcester • Dave Mason (1946–2026), musician and guitarist, founding member of the rock band Traffic, born in Worcester • Martin Gale (born 1949), painter, based in Ireland • David McGreavy (born 1951, the "Monster of Worcester"), lived and committed child murders in Worcester • Stephen Dorrell (born 1952), English Conservative politician and former government minister, born in Worcester • Karl Hyde (born 1957), English musician, frontman of trance music group Underworld born in Worcester • Vincenzo Nicoli (born 1958), British actor • Isabelle Jane Foulkes (1970–2001), Anglo-Welsh artist, textile designer and disability campaigner • Ben Humphrey (born 1986), British actor, director and writer, associate director of the Worcester Repertory Company • Kit Harington (born 1986), actor, lived in Worcester and attended the Chantry School and Worcester Sixth Form College; plays Jon Snow in Game of Thrones • Kai Alexander (born 1997), British actor, born in Worcester Sport • Ernest Payne (1884–1961), born in Worcester, rode for St Johns Cycling Club, winning a gold medal in team pursuit at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London • Sheila Scott (1922–1988), aviator, born in Worcester • Imran Khan (born 1952), cricketer and prime minister of Pakistan, attended the Royal Grammar School Worcester and played cricket for Worcestershire County Cricket Club (1971–1976) • Donncha O'Callaghan (born 1979), Irish rugby union player; joined Worcester Warriors in 2015 from Munster Rugby Irish and British and Irish Lions International • Matt Richards (born 2002), British swimmer, born and raised in Worcester; double Olympic champion • Laura Blindkilde Brown (born 2003), footballer for the England national team ==See also==