WE all know the likes of Dynamo and Zayn Malik hail from Bradford, not forgetting the likes of Ade Edmondson, but here is another list of famous faces, both past and present, from our district.
HARRY CORBETT
The man behind Sooty was born in Bradford in 1918.
He created the popular puppet in 1948, after he bought the puppet from a stall in Blackpool for his son Matthew.
The Sooty Show has appeared on children’s television since the 1950s.
When Prime minister Harold Wilson wished to have Steptoe and Son actor Harry H. Corbett awarded an OBE, the middle initial "H" was lost in the bureaucratic process, and the award went to Harry Corbett instead. Both were awarded the OBE on 1 January 1976, Harry Corbett being cited "for charitable services".
After he suffered a heart attack at Christmas 1975, his younger son, Peter (stage name Matthew), took over. But the elder Corbett did make occasional appearances on 'The Sooty Show' for several years with his son. Harry died aged 71 in 1989.
There was even a Sooty museum in Shipley as the famous yellow bear continued to make a number of appearances in the Bradford district over the years.
MASON GREENWOOD
The Wibsey-born Manchester United forward has been making headlines this season, scoring 17 goals in his breakthrough year.
He made his competitive first-team debut for the club in March 2019 in a 3-1 win against Paris Saint Germain in the Champions League.
Aged 17 years and 156 days, he became the second youngest player to represent the club in a European competition.
Greenwood signed a long-term deal last October which will seem him stay at Old Trafford until at least the summer of 2023, with the option of a further year.
He scored on his 50th appearance for the club on Tuesday in a 1-1 draw with West Ham United.
RACHEL LESKOVAC
Playing Natasha Blackman, Rachel is returning to Coronation Street, 10 years after first appearing in the soap.
Rachel, who went to St Joseph’s College in Manningham, will be on screen in Corrie from early September.
Her past acting credits away from the cobbles include playing killer nurse Kelly Yorke in Holby City.
She has also been in TV dramas Last Tango in Halifax, Jimmy McGovern’s The Accused, Shameless, Red Cap and sitcom Trollied.
In 2014 Rachel returned to Bradford to appear in 'Bollywood Carmen' performed in City Park.
ANDREA DUNBAR
The Buttershaw playwright is most famous for 1987 film Rita, Sue and Bob Too.
This explores similar themes to The Arbor through the lives of two teenage girls who are having affairs with the same married man.
Dunbar's third and final play, Shirley (1986) features a girl's "tumultuous relationship" with her mother
Dunbar began her first play The Arbor in 1977 at the age of 15, writing it as a classroom assignment for CSE English. She died in 1990 aged just 29.
ALAN TITCHMARSH
The Ilkley-born gardening guru is famous for his career on the small screen in the great outdoors.
In 1964, after leaving school at 15, Titchmarsh went to work as an apprentice gardener with Ilkley Council, before leaving in 1968, at 18, for Shipley Art and Technology Institute in Shipley to study for a City and Guilds in horticulture.
He soon left Yorkshire and moved on to a career in broadcasting including Ground Force, Pebble Mill and Love Your Garden.
MOLLIE SUGDEN
The Keighley-born comedy actress was most famous for playing Mrs Slocombe in the 1970s sitcom, Are You Being Served?
Shortly after she left school, World War II broke out, and Sugden worked in a munitions factory in Keighley making shells for the Royal Navy. She was later made redundant, and attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
She went on to a glittering acting career and died aged 86 in 2009.
JULIA VARLEY
Born in Bradford in 1871, she was an English trade unionist and suffragette.
She worked in a mill from aged 12 and three years later she became the secretary of the Bradford Weavers' and Textile Workers' Union.
In 1909 Varley moved to Birmingham and established a branch of the National Federation of Women Workers at the Cadbury factory at Bournville.
She was awarded an OBE in 1931, and died in Yorkshire in 1952. She is buried in Undercliffe Cemetery.
Artist Debbie Sharp was pictured by Varley's grave for her 2018 Hidden Suffrage after researching at the cemetery.
RICHARD DUNN
To many Bradfordians, Richard Dun is famous for two things; fighting Muhammad Ali and having a sport centre named after him.
The former scaffolder, was an English former heavyweight boxer who was the British (1975-76), European (1976) and Commonwealth (1975-76) Champion.
He unsuccessfully challenged Ali for the World Heavyweight title in 1976 in Munich, but was given a hero's welcome on his return to Bradford.
He retired from the ring in 1977.
Here is a list of another few Bradford-born celebrities.
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