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H. G. Wells === Author
H. G. Wells was born in Bromley on 21 September 1866, to Sarah and Joseph Wells; his father was the founder of the Bromley Cricket Club and the proprietor of a shop that sold
cricket equipment. Wells spent the first 13 years of his life in Bromley. From 1874 to 1879 he attended Tomas Morley's Bromley Academy, at 74 High Street. There was a 'H. G. Wells Centre' in Masons Hill near the southern end of the High Street which housed the Bromley Labour Club (the building was demolished in 2017). In August 2005, the wall honouring Wells in Market Square was repainted; the current wall painting features a rich green background with the same Wells reference and the evolutionary sequence of
Homo sapiens featured in
Origin of Species by
Charles Darwin, a former resident of nearby
Downe Village. Wells wrote about Bromley in an early unsigned article in the
Pall Mall Gazette in which he expressed satisfaction that he had been born in an earlier, more rural Bromley. A
blue plaque marks Wells' birthplace in Market Square, on the wall of what is now a
Primark store. A marble plaque appears above the door of 8 South Street, the location of Mrs Knott's
Dame school where "Bertie", as he was called as a child, learned to read and write. H. G. Wells featured Bromley in two of his novels:
The War in the Air (which refers to Bromley as Bunhill) and
The New Machiavelli (in which Bromley is referred to as Bromstead). However, H. G. Wells refused the offered freedom of the town, stating: "Bromley has not been particularly gracious to me nor I to Bromley and I don't think I want to add the freedom of Bromley to the freedom of the City of London and the freedom of the City of Brussels – both of which I have." He described Bromley in one of his novels as a "morbid sprawl of population".
Other residents Owen Chadwick was born in Bromley in 1916. He was awarded the
Order of Merit, was Vice Chancellor of University of Cambridge, Master of Selwyn Cambridge, Regius Professor of Modern History, Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Chancellor of University of Anglia, President of the
British Academy, and was a Rugby Union International. Other writers from Bromley include Captain
W.E. Johns (author of the Biggles adventures),
David Nobbs (author of
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin and writer for
Les Dawson and
The Two Ronnies), and
Enid Blyton who wrote children's fiction. A blue historical plaque can be found on the external wall of her former home on Shortlands Road, Bromley. Other notable people who lived in Bromley include
David Bowie;
Jane Downs, (actress);
Talbot Rothwell, (screenwriter of twenty
Carry On films); actress
Justine Lord;
Peter Howitt;
Richmal Crompton;
Pixie Lott;
Matt Terry;
Christopher Tennant;
Hanif Kureishi;
Peter Frampton;
Aleister Crowley;
Fatboy Slim;
Jack Dee;
Tom Allen;
D. Bernard Amos;
Rob Beckett; actor
Alexander Molony;
Gary Rhodes;
Pete Sears; singer
Poly Styrene;
Billy Idol;
Brian Poole (of
The Tremoloes);
Billy Jenkins;
Alex Clare; cricketer
Jill Cruwys; the anarchist
Peter Kropotkin; the former Clash drummer
Topper Headon; illustrator
Charles Keeping, children's writer
Andrew Murray; tenor
Roland Cunningham; actor
Michael York, who attended Bromley Grammar School for Boys; and clarinetist
Chris Craker. The musical conducting brothers
Stephen and
Nicholas Cleobury were born in Bromley, as was suffragette
Marie du Sautoy Newby. Actor
Jerome Flynn, who starred in
Game of Thrones as
Bronn, was born in Bromley. Gus Lobban and Jamie Bulled of the band
Kero Kero Bonito grew up in Bromley.
Deborah Linsley, the victim of one of Britain's most high-profile unsolved murders in 1988, grew up in Bromley.
Richard Reid, also known as the "Shoe Bomber", was born and lived in Bromley. He was convicted of the
2001 shoe bomb attempt. In the 20th century, the Parish Church of
St Peter and
St Paul produced, in quick succession, three
Church of England Bishops:
Henry David Halsey –
Bishop of Carlisle,
Philip Goodrich –
Bishop of Worcester,
David Bartleet –
Bishop of Tonbridge. Sculptor Nicholas Cornwell and
Maisy James the Big Brother 12 housemate. Sometime before 1881 the engineer and industrialist
Richard Porter moved to Beckenham where he remained until his death in 1913.
Hanif Kureishi, the writer and filmmaker was born here, and spent a significant part of his youth, here. The comedian
Chris Addison currently lives in Bromley, as does tennis player
Emma Raducanu. Scottish education secretary
Michael Russell MSP was born and spent the early years of his life in Bromley. Bromley is the home of video game developer
Splash Damage. ==See also==