16 famous faces that you might not know have a Shropshire connection
It may be sparsely populated, but Shropshire has a few claims to famous faces of its own.
From death metal rocker Shane Embury to Naked Attraction presenter Anna Richardson, Shropshire has a few famous faces that grew up on our streets.
On its own, Wem can lay claim to Shropshire's very own Taskmaster Greg Davies and Game of Thrones actor Peter Vaughan.
So we've complied a list of 16 celebrities who have either hailed from or decided to make Shropshire their home.
Greg Davies
The Taskmaster himself, Greg Davies was born in St Asaph in Wales in 1968.
His Welsh parents lived in England at the time, but the comedian says his father drove his mother across the border to make sure he was born in Wales so that he would be eligible to play rugby for the Wales national team.
Davies grew up in Wem, attended Thomas Adams School and still considers the small town his home. Just last month, the star returned to Wem to partake in a raffle draw at the town's swimming centre.
Before his comedy career, he taught drama for over a decade in several secondary schools.
In 2007, his stand-up career began to really take off and he was nominated three times in the Chortle Awards. His appearance as head of Sixth Form Mr Gilbert in the E4 comedy The Inbetweeners made him a familiar face on TV screens and he's been there solidly ever since.
Since 2015, Davies has been the host of the popular panel game show, Taskmaster.
Anna Richardson
Naked Attraction host Anna Richardson was born in Wellington, Telford in 1970.
The daughter of Canon James Richardson, OBE, vicar of Great Brington, Northamptonshire and a religious education teacher, Anna was educated at an Anglican girls' independent boarding school in Abbots Bromley in Staffordshire.
She became a familiar face on screens after fronting Channel 4's The Sex Education Show in 2008.
Anna has presented the channel's infamous Naked Attraction since it began in 2016. The show involves a clothed single person presented with a gallery of six hidden-but-nude potential partners who concurrently reveal themselves from the bottom up.
Mary Beard
Shrewsbury-born scholar, Dame Mary Beard might be the only 'classicist' many of us can name off the top of our heads.
Her regular media appearances and occasionally controversial public statements have led to her being described as "Britain's best-known classicist".
Beard was educated at Shrewsbury High School before being accepted at Cambridge University where she thrived in a male-dominated field.
In December 2010, on BBC Two, she presented Pompeii: Life and Death in a Roman Town before going on to present Meet the Romans with Mary Beard in 2012, Caligula with Mary Beard in 2013 and Pompeii: New Secrets Revealed with Mary Beard in 2016.
Nick Owen
As a child, Midlands Today news presenter Nick Owen was sent off to boarding school in the county from his home in Hertfordshire. He was educated at Kingsland Grange - an independent boys school in Shrewsbury that closed in 2007.
The news presenter still looks back fondly on his time in Shrewsbury, recalling in a Shropshire Star podcast with Eric Smith: "I loved walking round the Quarry, the Dingle and the narrow streets. All that character, Fish Street and Grope Lane, around St Alkmund's - it's a wonderful, wonderful town. I still find it fascinating today."
Alistair McGowan
Master of mimicry, Alistair McGowan was born in Worcestershire, but has called Ludlow his home since 2020.
The impressionist, actor and musician is probably best known to British audiences for The Big Impression, a comedy sketch show that ran on BBC One between 1999 and 2003.
