#1Music
Johnny Clegg
1953–2019British and South African musician, anthropologist and anti-apartheid icon
32 Wikipedia languagesRead more ↗
Famous people · Bacup, Lancashire
Most of the 20 famous people born in Bacup came into the world in the 20th century
With articles in 32 languages, Johnny Clegg is the most widely known. Second place goes to the English association football player Matty James, third to Reece James. The biggest group are athletes: 12. From John B. Sutcliffe in 1853 to Sam Aston in 1993, the births cover 140 years.
Born here
20
notable people
Best known
Johnny Clegg
in 32 Wikipedia languages
First
1853
John B. Sutcliffe
Youngest
1993
Sam Aston
Most common field
Sports
12 people
What stands out about Bacup’s famous people
★ What stands out · Through the years
When Bacup’s famous people were born
No decade has more births than the 1920s, at 5.
SportsScience & MedicineWriting & ArtsMusicFilm, TV & StagePolitics & Law
Each dot is a person, stacked by the decade they were born.
The best known
Born in Bacup
Two of the three are athletes.
#1
#2Sports
Matty James
born 1991English association football player (born 1991)
27 Wikipedia languagesRead more ↗
#3Sports
Reece James
born 1993English association football player (1993-)
21 Wikipedia languagesRead more ↗
Known for
What Bacup is known for
Set against the usual town, scientists and doctors come out 2 times as common.
The usual town: the share across everyone listed across UK towns. Tap a field to see its people.
Everyone
Everyone else born in Bacup
17 more names, born between 1853 and 1993.
No one matches both filters.
Next door
Famous people from the towns next door
Nearby, Rochdale has the most on record, with 170.
Rochdale · 6 miSajid Javid & 169 more
Todmorden · 4 miJohn Cockcroft & 35 moreWFHaslingden · 5 miWilliam Foster & 26 more
Littleborough · 5 miAgyness Deyn & 24 more
Rawtenstall · 3 miJane Horrocks & 20 moreTGRamsbottom · 7 miTim Greaves & 10 more
Wardle · 4 miChris Schofield & 2 moreRHWhitworth · 3 miRoy Halstead & 1 moreQuestions about famous people from Bacup
Who is the most famous person from Bacup?
Johnny Clegg (British and South African musician, anthropologist and anti-apartheid icon) is the best known by our measure: Wikipedia has an article about them in 32 languages. Next come Matty James and Reece James.
How many famous people were born in Bacup?
20 people born in Bacup have an English Wikipedia article that confirms the town as their birthplace. Wikidata places 21 people here; the rest aren’t listed because their article names somewhere else, or no town.
What is Bacup known for?
Among its famous people, athletes: 12 of the 20. That is 60% of the town’s list, against 49% across UK towns.
Who is the earliest-born famous person from Bacup?
John B. Sutcliffe, born in 1853. The youngest on the list was born in 1993.
Who counts as from Bacup?
People Wikidata records as born in a place inside Bacup’s built-up area (the ONS 2022 boundary), a hospital or district within it included, whose English Wikipedia article agrees. People who only lived here, adult performers and people known mainly for crimes aren’t listed.
Why is someone missing?
Their Wikidata birthplace may be a bigger area (“London”), another town, or missing, or their article may give no birthplace. We only list people both sources agree on; editing Wikidata or Wikipedia changes this page at the next refresh.
From Wikidata (CC0: birthplaces, descriptions, years, occupations) and English Wikipedia (each person’s article confirms the birthplace; linked, not quoted). Birthplaces are placed in the town by the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary (Office for National Statistics, Open Government Licence v3.0). Ranked by how many Wikipedia languages cover each person. Fields are read from Wikidata’s description and occupations. “The usual town”: everyone listed across UK towns. Portraits: each person’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Photo credits (11)
- Johnny Clegg: davidata, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Matty James: @cfcunofficial (Chelsea Debs) London, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Reece James: Ungry Young Man, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Marc Pugh: https://www.flickr.com/photos/joncandy/, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Paul Stephenson: ukhomeoffice, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- John B. Sutcliffe: Oak Leaves Oak Park, part of Chicago Tribune Media Group., Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Sajid Javid: Richard Townshend, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- John Cockcroft: Nobel foundation, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Agyness Deyn: Nate "Igor" Smith from Brooklyn, NY, USA - Drivenbyboredom.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Jane Horrocks: richiiebam, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Chris Schofield: Gareth Williams from Redhill, England, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.