Leeds

Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in Yorkshire in the north of England. The River Aire runs through the city. In 1974 the former a county borough of Leeds was merged with the towns of Wetherby, Morley, Otley, Pudsey, and other surrounding areas to form a metropolitan borough ? the city status of the county borough being conferred the new metropolitan borough. Somewhat confusingly therefore, the City of Leeds contains a number of towns including the former county borough of Leeds, which can be thought of as Leeds proper. For the purposes of this article Leeds refers to the city as it was prior to 1974 as to distinguish it from the metropolitan borough called the City of Leeds. According to the 2001 UK census the core of Leeds had a population of 429,243 while the City of Leeds had a population of 726,939 and is one of England's core cities.

Famous people from Leeds

• Sir Jimmy Savile - Best known for presenting Jim'll Fix It and Top of the Pops. Now living in Roundhay.
• Mel B (from the Spice Girls)
• Chris Moyles - BBC Radio 1 DJ.
• Alan Bennett - performer in Beyond the Fringe and writer of works such as The Madness of King George
• Elizabeth Dawn (real name Sylvia Butterfield) best-known for her character Vera Duckworth in Coronation Street
• Gaynor Faye - known for her character in Coronation Street and later Fat Friends
• Kay Mellor - writer of TV drama including Band of Gold
• Tony Harrison (b.1937 - ) - Poet
• Matthew Lewis - known for his role as Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter films
• Malcolm McDowell - played the wizard in Just Visting, starred in A Clockwork Orange and has appeared in Star Trek films
• Peter O'Toole - actor famous for his role in Lawrence of Arabia
• Vic Reeves - known for his long time on screen partnership with fellow comedian Bob Mortimer
• Tom Wilkinson - actor who has appeared in such films as Batman Begins, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and The Full Monty
• Ernie Wise - (real name Ernest Wiseman) of the comedy duo Morecambe and Wise
• John Craven - presenter of John Craven's Newsround (now known as Newsround)
• Caryl Phillips - a leading Black British author/playwright
• Nell McAndrew - an internationally famous model.
• Verbalicous - succesful European hip-hop artist.
• Alan Titchmarsh - Celebrity gardener.
• Jan Fletcher - International Business Woman
• Arthur Ransome - Journalist and childrens' author
• Alfred Austin - Poet laureate