The Ultimate Celebrity Lists Book

By Mitchell Symons

Everything you ever wanted to know about celebrities but were either afraid–or didn't know what–to ask.

Mitchell Symons' compilation of miscellaneous facts surrounding the lives of the rich and famous will dazzle, delight and occasionally dismay the reader as he reveals the kinds of facts that most books omit. What these head-scratching lists all have in common is that they’re not available on Wikipedia – or anywhere else.

• Language: English
• Publisher: White Hart Books
• Release date: Aug 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781913721046

Mitchell Symons

Mitchell Symons (born 11 February 1957) is a British journalist and writer. Born in London, he was educated at Mill Hill School and the LSE where he studied Law. Since leaving the BBC, where he was a researcher and director, he has worked as a writer, broadcaster and journalist. He was a principal writer for the early UK editions of the board game Trivial Pursuit, and has devised many television formats. He wrote an award-winning opinion column for the Daily Express.

Book preview

Introduction

I hope you enjoy this book.

The lists are unique to me. What they have in common is that they’re not available on Wikipedia – or anywhere else – as lists. I have collected them ‘organically’ over a period of time.

I’d like to thank John Blake and Jon Rippon, my publishers, for giving me this chance. I’d also like to thank Penny Symons for her outstanding contribution to the book (and everything else). Further shout outs go to Jack Symons, Charles Symons, Jenny Garrison, Gilly Adams and everyone else who has supported me and my work over the years.

1

Beginnings

BORN ON THE VERY SAME DAY AS ANOTHER CELEBRITY

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Goran Ivanisevic and Stella McCartney (13.9.71)

Daryl Hannah and Julianne Moore (3.12.60)

Jimmy Osmond and Nick Berry (16.4.63)

Rita Ora and Danny Welbeck (26.11.90)

Sylvester Stallone and President George W. Bush (6.7.46)

Christian Bale & Jemima Khan (30.1.74)

Gabby Logan & Lee Westwood (24.4.73)

Damon Albarn & Michael Atherton (23.3.68)

David Seaman & Jarvis Cocker (19.9.63)

Jane Horrocks & Richard Dunwoody (18.1.64)

Hansie Cronje & Catherine Zeta Jones (25.9.69)

Pam Shriver & Neil Morrissey (4.7.62)

Pierce Brosnan and Christian Lacroix (16.5.51)

Sophie, Countess of Wessex and Heather Small (20.1.65)

Brian Conley and Walter Swinburn (7.8.61)

Courtney Love and Gianluca Vialli (9.7.64)

Prince Edward and Jasmine Guy (10.3.64)

Kenny Dalglish and Chris Rea (4.3.51)

Robert De Niro and John Humphrys (17.8.43)

Dannii Minogue and Snoop Dogg (20.10.71)

David Threlfall and Les Dennis (12.10.53)

Hillary Clinton and Jaclyn Smith (26.10.47)

Justin Hayward and Lesley Joseph (14.10.46)

Fiona Bruce & Hank Azaria (25.4.1964)

Lightning & Dido (25.12.1971)

Andre Agassi & Uma Thurman (29.4.1970)

Christian Slater & Edward Norton (18.8.1969)

Carol Decker & Colin Firth (10.9.1960)

Mark Lamarr & Nick Clegg (7.1.1967)

Andrew Ridgeley & Jose Mourinho (26.1.1963)

Tim Vine & Sam Taylor-Wood (4.3.1967)

Jane McDonald & Graham Norton (4.4.1963)

Niall Ferguson & Bez (18.4.1964)

David Tennant & Samantha Cameron (18.4.1971)

Natalie Appleton & Julian White (14.5.1973)

Olly Murs & Mark Zuckerberg (14.5.1984)

Fabien Barthez & Louise Mensch MP (28.6.1971)

Jeremy Guscott & Jeremy Kyle (7.7.1965)

Angela Griffin & Benedict Cumberbatch (19.7.1976)

Wayne Bridge & Sophie Winkleman (5.8.1980)

Boris Becker & Mark Ruffalo (22.11.1967)

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HAS/HAD A FAMOUS STEP-PARENT

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Josh Brolin – Barbra Streisand

Kate Hudson – Kurt Russell

Carrie Fisher – Dame Elizabeth Taylor

Sienna Miller – Kelly Hoppen

Sally Field - Jock Mahoney

Lord Michael Grade - Kent Walton

David Cassidy - Shirley Jones

Julian Lennon - Yoko Ono

Paloma Picasso - Jonas Salk

Mark Nicholas - Brian Widlake

Nicolette Sheridan - Telly Savalas

Christian Bale - Gloria Steinem

Cherie Blair - Pat Phoenix

Carlene Carter - Johnny Cash

Liv Tyler - Todd Rundgren

Bijou Phillips - Michelle Phillips

Adam Hart-Davis – Dame Peggy Ashcroft

Mark Ronson – Mick Jones (of Foreigner)

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BORN ON A FRIDAY THE 13TH

Steve Buscemi

Sara Cox

Zoe Wanamaker

Peter Scudamore

Suggs

Peter Davison

Howard Keel

Christopher Plummer

Robin Smith

Caroline Goodall

Samuel Beckett

Fidel Castro

Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Samantha Morton

Esther Ofarim

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen

Rosalind Bennett

Darius Rucker

Georges Simenon

Peter Tork

Darius Vassell

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BORN IN GERMANY

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John McEnroe

Andre Previn

Jackson Browne

Peter Alliss

Bruce Willis

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Paul Ackford

Andrew Sachs

Gyles Brandreth

Jeri Ryan

Martin Lawrence

Pam Ferris

Peter Gilmore

Ken Adam

Lucien Freud

Henry Kissinger

Dominic Monaghan

Chris Barrie

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BORN ABROAD

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Terry Butcher (Singapore)

Nicola Pagett (Egypt)

Thomas Dolby (Egypt)

Lionel Blair (Canada)

Katie Boyle (Italy)

Chris de Burgh (Argentina)

Pamela Armstrong (Borneo)

Ted Dexter (Italy)

Fiona Bruce (Singapore)

Lisa Butcher (Singapore)

Fiona Fullerton (Nigeria)

Derek Pringle (Kenya)

Alan Whicker (Egypt)

Stephanie Beacham (Morocco)

Debbie Thrower (Kenya)

Minnie Driver (Barbados)

Louis Theroux (Singapore)

Dom Joly (Lebanon)

Eddie Izzard (Aden - now Yemen)

Robert Bathurst (Gold Coast - now Ghana)

Jenny Seagrove (Malaysia)

Sally Phillips (Hong Kong)

William Boyd (Ghana)

Matthew Parris (South Africa)

Lord Julian Fellowes (Egypt)

Richard Dawkins (Kenya)

Simon Russell Beale (Malaysia)

Isla Fisher (Oman)

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BORN IN INDIA

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Spike Milligan

Joanna Lumley

Angela Thorne

Sir Cliff Richard

Engelbert Humperdinck

Lord Colin Cowdrey

Lindsay Anderson

John Aspinall

Isla Blair

Anna Carteret

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BORN ON APRIL FOOLS DAY

David Gower

Ali MacGraw

Phillip Schofield

Ronnie Lane

Otto von Bismarck

Debbie Reynolds

Carol White

Edgar Wallace

Michael Praed

Chris Evans

J.J. Williams

Susan Boyle

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PEOPLE WHO WERE BORN IN NEW ZEALAND

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Richard Curtis, Daniel Bedingfield, Anouska Hempel, Gina Bellman, Roger Cook, Lucy Lawless, Brendan Cole, Sir David Low, Lord Ernest Rutherford, Pamela Stephenson, Lance Todd, Des Wilson

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NEVER KNEW THEIR FATHERS

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Eminem

Jeremy Beadle

Eartha Kitt

Alan Milburn

Lance Armstrong

Charlie Chaplin

Gary Glitter

Bill Clinton

Evander Holyfield (whose father had 27 children)

Vanilla Ice

Prince Michael of Kent

Eric Clapton

Lee Trevino

Naomi Campbell

Rod Steiger

Mike Tyson

Marilyn Monroe

Kerry Katona

Dame Kelly Holmes

Sir Alec Guinness

Lee Harvey Oswald

David Blaine

Pat Barker

Lord Byron

Kirsty Young (left when she was six weeks old)

will.i.am

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NEVER KNEW THEIR MOTHERS

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Sir Laurence Olivier

Helen Suzman

Eric Sykes

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BORN/GREW UP IN POVERTY

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Roman Abramovich

Michael Barrymore

Clara Bow

Robert Burns

Sir Michael Caine

Mariah Carey

Miguel de Cervantes

Coco Chanel

Ray Charles

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Billy Connolly

Joan Crawford

Kirk Douglas

Chris Eubank

Eusebio

Sir Tom Finney

Cary Grant

Jools Holland

Harry Houdini

Jesse Jackson

Nikita Khrushchev

Lennox Lewis

Sophia Loren

John Lydon

Diego Maradona

Walter Matthau

Martine McCutcheon

Marilyn Monroe

Sir V.S. Naipaul

Dolly Parton

Pele

Sidney Poitier

Elvis Presley

Rene Russo

Maria Sharapova

Hilary Swank

Phil Taylor

Billy Bob Thornton

Mao Tse-tung

Shania Twain

Oprah Winfrey

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PART-NATIVE AMERICAN

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Burt Reynolds (one quarter-Cherokee)

Johnny Depp (part-Cherokee)

Waylon Jennings (part-Cherokee and part-Comanche)

Cher (part-Cherokee)

Johnny Cash (one quarter-Cherokee)

Jimi Hendrix (part-Cherokee)

James Garner (part-Cherokee)

Roy Rogers (part-Choctaw)

Kim Basinger (part-Cherokee)

Dolly Parton (one eighth Cherokee)

Eartha Kitt (half-Cherokee)

Chuck Norris (half-Cherokee)

John Phillips (half-Cherokee)

Sally Field (part-Cherokee)

Redd Foxx (one quarter-Seminole)

Tori Amos (part-Cherokee)

Jerry Hall (part-Cherokee)

Val Kilmer (part-Cherokee)

Jessica Biel (part-Choctaw)

Hilary Swank (part-Shoshone)

Sir Winston Churchill (one sixteenth-Iroquois)

Carmen Electra (part-Cherokee)

Shannon Elizabeth (part-Cherokee)

Quentin Tarantino (one-quarter Cherokee)

Billy Bob Thornton (one-quarter Choctaw)

Rebecca Hall (part-Sioux)

Rich Hall (part-Cherokee)

The Jonas Brothers (part-Cherokee)

James Brown (part-Apache)

James Earl Jones (part-Cherokee and Choctaw)

Tina Turner (part-Cherokee and Navajo)

Demi Moore (part-Cherokee)

Megan Fox (part-Cherokee)

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HAVE/HAD FAMOUS GODPARENTS

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Winona Ryder (Timothy Leary - who was also married to Uma Thurman's mother before Uma was born)

Whitney Houston (Aretha Franklin)

Jennifer Aniston (Telly Savalas)

Mia Farrow (George Cukor & Louella Parsons)

Martin Amis (Philip Larkin)

Drew Barrymore (Steven Spielberg)

Earl Spencer (The Queen)

Bridget Fonda (Larry Hagman)

Jeremy Thorpe (Megan Lloyd George)

Angelina Jolie (Jacqueline Bisset)

Sophie Dahl (Babs Powell)

Santa Palmer-Tomkinson (Prince Charles)

Zak Starkey (Keith Moon)

Angelina Jolie (Maximilian Schell)

Bryce Dallas Howard (Henry Winkler)

Patsy Kensit (Reggie Kray)

Phoebe Cates (Jacqueline Susann)

Nicole Richie (Michael Jackson)

Amber Tamblyn (Dean Stockwell)

Jake Gyllenhaal (Jamie Lee Curtis)

Liza Minnelli (Ira Gershwin)

Jack Whitehall (Nigel Havers & Richard Griffiths)

Karen Dotrice (Charles Laughton)

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BORN ON THE VERY SAME DAY AS ANOTHER CELEBRITY DIED

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Davy Crockett and Frederick the Great - 17.8.1786

Richard Stilgoe and Sergei Rachmaninov 28.3.1943

Billie Jean King and Lorenz Hart - 22.11.1943

Donald Trump and John Logie Baird - 14.6.1946

Bryan Ferry and Bela Bartok - 26.9.1945

Charles Wheeler and Sarah Bernhardt - 26.3.1923

Kian Egan and Sir Alfred Hitchcock - 29.4.80

Phil Collins and C.B. Cochran - 31.1.1951

Jason Donovan and Helen Keller - 1.6.1968

Graham Chapman and Lord Baden-Powell - 8.1.1941

Yoko Ono and Gentleman Jim Corbett - 18.2.1933

Anthea Redfern and Ernest Bevin - 14.4.1951

Donna Summer and Sir Malcolm Campbell - 31.12.1948

Adam Ant and Henri Matisse - 3.11.1954

Michael Stipe and Albert Camus - 4.1.60

Frank Zappa and F. Scott Fitzgerald - 21.12.1940

Che Guevara and Emmeline Pankhurst - 14.6.1928

Sir James Savile and Harry Houdini - 31.10.1926

Johnny Rotten and A.A. Milne - 31.1.1956

Barry Sheene and Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts - 11.9.1950

Christina Aguilera and Ben Travers - 18.12.80

Victoria Principal and William Joyce (Lord Haw Haw) - 3.1.46

Germaine Greer and W.B. Yeats - 29.1.39

Ben Okri and Lester Young - 15.3.59

Ornette Coleman and Arthur Balfour - 19.3.30

Mickey Rourke and Hilaire Belloc - 16.7.53

Jacqueline Bisset and William Heath Robinson - 13.9.44

Richard Carpenter and Hermann Goering - 15.10.46

Larry Mullen Jr and Augustus John - 31.10.61

k.d. lang and James Thurber - 2.11.61

Art Carney and Wilfred Owen - 4.11.18

Kelly Brook and Merle Oberon - 23.11.79

Dennis Wise and Walt Disney - 15.12.66

Jay Kay and Trygve Lie - 30.12.68

Darren Gough and Jimi Hendrix – 18.9.1970

Norah Jones and Airey Neave - 30.3.1979

Richie McCaw and Marshall McLuhan 31.12.1980

Emma Watson and Greta Garbo 15.4.1990

Ian Poulter and Howlin’ Wolf 10.1.1976

Daniel Carter and John Belushi 5.3.1982

Channing Tatum and Dame Cicely

Reviews for The Ultimate Celebrity Lists Book

[Anne-Marie Whelehan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A bit of fun. Enjoyed having a glance through the lists.