My town is (in)famous for....

[Mad Doug Biker]

My home town is famous for this, filmed on its platform

Carnforth!!

 

[Cheddar George]

Famous for...

Jill Dando and John Cleese.

Infamous for...

Our Grand Pier, which burned down a few years ago, but to my understanding has been rebuilt.

Jeffrey Archer (a not so grand peer).

Roald Dahl was at school in Weston and hated every minute of it.

 

[Saluki]

He might support NCFC but he's West Norfolk, isn't he?

I'm surprised no one's yet mentioned Northampton's former mouth of hell.

Went to school in Norwich though, Cawston and City College. Lived in Booton, which is near Reepham. We cycle there all the time so reckon that it's near enough

 

[Paulus]

Famous for---
Battle of Barnet
Part of the Wars of the Roses

Late 15th-century artistic portrayal of the battle: Edward IV (left), wearing a circlet and mounted on a horse, leads the Yorkist charge and pierces the Earl of Warwick (right) with his lance; in reality, Warwick was not killed by Edward.
Date 14 April 1471
Location North of Barnet, England
Result Yorkist victory
Belligerents
House of York House of Lancaster
Commanders and leaders
Edward IV
Richard, Duke of Gloucester
William, Lord Hastings Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick †
John Neville, Marquess of Montagu †
Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter
John de Vere, Earl of Oxford

Also Barnet horse fair. Giving rise to the saying--"going to get my barnet cut".

 

[User169]

Very bizzarely i found one his books on the train on Tuesday which looked very new and which is now sitting on my pile of books to read. I have never read any of his books and this one "Shadows on the Grass " is about cricket of which my own knowledge could be written on a postage stamp. However i have promised a friend to go and watch the local team play at the club at the bottom of my road this weekend so perhaps i will take the book in the vain hope i main learn something about the game.

The filthiest book about cricket as E.W. Swanson put it!

I read it last week - some real laugh out loud moments.

 

[tyred]

A colourful character called John "half-hung" MacNaghten

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_Hung_MacNaghten

Also the smallest "city" in Europe (we have a small cathedral and are the seat of the diocese which in the eyes of the church means it's a city despite only around 1,200 inhabitants).

 

[Dave 123]

Very nice, but by including John Prescott, you have just landed on 'Go to jail', so get to the back of the que!

Prescott was a blow in from Hull, so he doesn't count!

 

[w00hoo_kent]

Building HMS Victory
The Desk of the US President (The Resolute Desk)
Charles Dickens
Will Adams (the first Westerner to visit Japan)
The birthplace of Kelly Brook
The birthplace of the Chav

Hmm, beaten to it.
Chatham Ladies
with the Chav, also birthplace of the diamante clown
Marconi Avionics (now Selex apparently)
Shorts seaplanes (closed, now mud side apartments)
Chatham Dockyard (closed, now a tourist attraction)
Jezreel's Tower

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Prescott was a blow in from Hull, so he doesn't count!

Is that meant to make it any better?

 

[MichaelW2]

As the sign on the A140 says:
Welcome to Aviva: A Fine City.

 

[ArDee]

The burial place of Princess Pocahontas

 

[User482]

Bristol's a bit too easy so I'll go with where I grew up, Ramsbottom:

1. The Grant brothers once hosted Charles Dickens (at what is now the Grant's arms in the middle of the town) and were said to be the inspiration for the Cheeryble brothers in Nicholas Nickleby.
2. Howard Donald, member of Take That, used to live there, mostly under siege from the girls at my school.
3. Past players for the cricket club include Ian Chappell and Michael Clarke - former and current Australian test captains.
4. The town hosts the black pudding throwing world championship, with the aim being to knock over Yorkshire puddings.

 

[MontyVeda]

the Pendle Witch Trials.... and that's about it.

 

[User482]

the Pendle Witch Trials.... and that's about it.

...and the Birmingham six.

 

[Jayaly]

We have the Leavesden Studios. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros._Studios,_Leavesden. Used for filming Bond films and Harry Potter among other things, and notable to me for making an awful lot of noise from a wind machine in the middle of the night one weekend without warning local residents. I cycle past an outdoor set which looks a bit like a cliff face at the moment and there is assorted Potterish stuff visible from the road.