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Connie Fisher, actress raised in Pembrokeshire

  • Person's Name: Connie Fisher
  • Fame as?: Actress and Singer
  • Fame Hilite: Actress and singer who won How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? and starred as Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music.
  • Birth info: Born on 17 June 1983 in Lisburn, Northern Ireland.
  • Body Text 2:

    Connie continues to work in musical theatre and broadcasting and remains a well-known figure in Pembrokeshire, where she was raised.

  • Career Highlights:
    • Career Highlight: Won BBC1's How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? in 2006
    • Career Highlight: Starred as Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music at the London Palladium
    • Career Highlight: Raised near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire from the age of four
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  • External Profile Pic: https://www.famouswelsh.com/images/
  • Connection: Raised near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire aged four
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  • Location String: Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales
  • Connection Place Map: 51.8021,-4.9707
  • Comments:
    • Comment By: arsenal1 , This Comment: She is fantastic, a fantastic singer and personality
    • Comment By: Cymruambyth , This Comment: Born in Belfast, but moved to Pembroke when she was six.
Connie Fisher was born on 17 June 1983 in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. When she was four years old her family moved to a village near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, where she grew up and was educated. She rose to national fame in 2006 winning the BBC1 reality talent show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, earning the lead role of Maria von Trapp in Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End revival of The Sound of Music at the London Palladium. She went on to further stage and television roles, including touring productions and...

David Gray, singer-songwriter from Solva, Pembrokeshire!

David Gray, singer-songwriter raised in Solva, Pembrokeshire, Wales
  • Person's Name: David Gray
  • Fame as?: Singer-Songwriter
  • Fame Hilite: Born in England, shaped by Pembrokeshire — the boy from Solva who recorded White Ladder in a London flat and made one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century
  • Birth info: Born 13 June 1968 in Sale, Cheshire — raised from age nine in Solva, Pembrokeshire, Wales
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    White Ladder spent 151 weeks on the UK Albums Chart, eventually reaching number one two and a half years after its original release. It became the fifth best-selling album of the 2000s in the UK and was ranked the tenth best-selling album of the 21st century in the UK in 2019. The follow-up, A New Day at Midnight (2002), went straight to number one, famously beating Pop Idol runner-up Gareth Gates to the top spot and selling 150,000 copies in its first week.

    Gray has continued to record prolifically — Life in Slow Motion (2005), Draw the Line (2009), Foundling (2010), Mutineers (2014), Gold in a Brass Age (2019), Skellig (2021), Dear Life (2025) and Nightjar (2026) — a body of work that has consistently rewarded listeners who value craftsmanship and emotional depth over trend-chasing. He has received four Brit Award nominations, including two for Best British Male. He is the brother-in-law of Phil Hartnoll of Orbital, with whom he collaborated on the 2001 single Illuminate.

    He married his wife Olivia in Los Angeles in 1993 and has two daughters, Ivy and Florence — the latter a musician who has appeared on his recent recordings. He lives in Hampstead, London. The Sloop Inn in Porthgain, Pembrokeshire, remains, by his own reckoning, the best pub in the world.

    If you'd like to visit the family shop, Window on Wales they're on Main Street in Solva and Nun Street, St Davids, Haverfodwest 

  • Public Video Title A : David Gray — Babylon (Official Video)
  • Public Video Title B: David Gray — This Year's Love (Official Music Video)
  • Public Video Title C: David Gray — Babylon Live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (2001)
  • Career Highlights:
    • Career Highlight: First performed on stage at Mathry Hall, Pembrokeshire with the Mathry Players (1987)
    • Career Highlight: Signed to Hut Records (1992) and released debut album A Century Ends (1993) — earning early comparisons to Bob Dylan and Van Morrison
    • Career Highlight: Self-financed and recorded White Ladder in his London flat (1998) — released on his own IHT Records label
    • Career Highlight: White Ladder became the biggest-selling album in Irish history and the fifth best-selling album of the 2000s in the UK
    • Career Highlight: A New Day at Midnight (2002) debuted at number one in the UK, beating Gareth Gates in its first week
    • Career Highlight: Reached the US Top 20 with five successive albums — rare for a British folk-rock singer-songwriter
    • Career Highlight: Four Brit Award nominations including two for Best British Male; White Ladder ranked tenth best-selling UK album of the 21st century (2019)
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  • External Profile Pic: https://www.famouswelsh.com/images/
  • Connection: Raised in Solva, Pembrokeshire — educated at Ysgol Dewi Sant, St David's, Wales
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  • Products:
    • Product Name: White Ladder — David Gray (CD) , Product Type: Album , Product Description: The album that changed everything. Recorded in a London flat on a shoestring, White Ladder became one of the greatest word-of-mouth success stories in music history — and Pembrokeshire is in every note of it. , Product Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01NGZ423Z?tag=thefamouswelshwe-21 , Product Store: Amazon UK , Product Image: White Ladder — David Gray (CD Cover)
    • Product Name: Dear Life , Product Type: Album , Product Description: David Gray is back doing what he does better than almost anyone, and fans of complex, serious, lyrical songcraft should rejoice. Dear Life may be the deepest, strangest, loveliest album this pioneering British singer-songwriter has ever delivered. , Product Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DGW6SWHV?tag=thefamouswelshwe-21 , Product Store: Amazon UK , Product Image: Dear Life double CD cover
    • Product Name: The Best Of David Gray , Product Type: Album , Product Description: Compilation of the British singer/songwriter's greatest hits spanning 1999 to 2016. Including two new songs, 'Smoke Without Fire' and 'Enter Lightly'. , Product Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01KL5E48C?tag=thefamouswelshwe-21 , Product Store: amazon UK , Product Image: The Best Of David Gray CD Cover
    • Product Name: Life in Slow Motion , Product Type: Album , Product Description: Recorded between October 2003 and May 2005, David took a different approach to writing and recording Life In Slow Motion. Of the change, David says, "I don’t think you can remain the underdog forever and work in that way. I really wanted to get away from that lo-fi bedroom programming. , Product Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000A3OWP6?tag=thefamouswelshwe-21 , Product Store: Amazon UK , Product Image: Life in Slow Motion CD Cover
  • Location String: Solva, Pembrokeshire, Wales
  • Public Videos:
  • Connection Place Map: 51.8673,-5.1965
  • Comments:
    • Comment By: MindysMate , This Comment: Born in Manchester but grew up in Solva.
    • Comment By: SloopJohnB , This Comment: He reckons that the best pub in the world is the Sloop Inn in Porthgain, which I would have to agree with.
    • Comment By: MoreTeaVica , This Comment: Wasn't born in Pembrokeshire, was in fact born in Manchester in 1970. His family moved to Pembrokeshire when he was eight.
    • Comment By: rhydychen , This Comment: He was educated at Ysgol Dewi Sant in St David's.
    • Comment By: Stirls , This Comment: Appeared in Mathry Hall and sang in Raise the Roof with Mathry Players in 1987. Was this his first time on stage outside of any school performances?
    • Comment By: WhiteLadderFan , This Comment: What makes the White Ladder story so remarkable is that it was recorded for next to nothing in a flat and released on his own label — and it still outsold everything. Wales shaped that album more than people realise.
David Peter Gray was born on 13 June 1968 in Sale, Cheshire, and grew up in Altrincham near Manchester — until the age of nine, when his family uprooted and moved to Solva, a tiny fishing village on the Pembrokeshire coast. His parents took over a gift shop and started a clothing business selling clothes and gifts quite unlike anything on the high street. That business lives on today as Window on Wales, with shops in both Solva and St David's — well worth a visit if you're in Pembrokeshire. The move was, by Gray's own...

Kenneth Griffith, actor from Tenby, Pembrokeshire.

© Kenneth_Griffith_A_Touch_of_Churchill_A_Touch_of_Hitler, fair use claimed
  • Person's Name: Kenneth Griffith
  • Fame as?: Actor
  • Fame Hilite: Welsh character actor and documentary filmmaker from Tenby, known for The Wild Geese, The Prisoner and his controversial, self-performed Boer War documentaries.
  • Death info: Kenneth left us on 25th of June 2006, aged 84.
  • Birth info: Born Kenneth Reginald Griffiths, 12 October 1921, Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales
  • Body Text 2:

    Kenneth's career spanned two very different strands: mainstream character acting in films such as A Night to Remember, Rocket to the Moon and Rocket to Nowhere, and the confrontational, deeply personal documentary work for which he became better known in later life. He wrote, directed and narrated the majority of his own documentaries, often appearing on screen himself to argue directly with the camera.

    His Tenby roots remained important to him throughout his life; the town's museum now holds an archive of his papers, photographs and personal effects, and a plaque marking his birthplace is still pointed out by local residents.

  • Career Highlights:
    • Career Highlight: Played Witty in The Wild Geese (1978) alongside Richard Burton
    • Career Highlight: Appeared in the classic ITC television series The Prisoner (1967-68)
    • Career Highlight: Played Jenkins in Only Two Can Play (1962)
    • Career Highlight: Wrote, produced and performed all roles in the documentary series Sons of the Blood: The Great Boer War, 1899-1902
    • Career Highlight: Published autobiography The Fool's Pardon (1994)
    • Career Highlight: Played Reverend Jones in The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1995)
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  • External Profile Pic: https://www.famouswelsh.com/images/
  • Connection: Born and raised in his early years in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, by his paternal grandparents after his parents separated; changed his surname from Griffiths to Griffith on his headmaster's advice.
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  • Location String: Tenby, Wales
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  • Connection Place Map: 51.6721,-4.7015
  • Comments:
    • Comment By: TopicGraphic , This Comment: Expert on the Boer War - has a huge collection of books, posters and postage stamps on the subject. Wrote, produced and stared in an award-winning TV series on the Boer War, in which he played ALL of the characters. What a wonderful production!
    • Comment By: MorseCode , This Comment: Also appears in many British films like only two can play, the wild geese, 'An Englishman who went up a hill but came down a mountain'.
    • Comment By: wingding , This Comment: It has always been my understanding that Kenneth Griffth was born in Tenby, Pembrokeshire. There is a house with a name plaque which states Kenneth Griffith was born there I believe.
Kenneth Griffith was born Kenneth Reginald Griffiths in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, on 12 October 1921. His parents separated within six months of his birth, and he was raised by his paternal grandparents, Emily and Ernest, staunch Wesleyan Methodists who instilled in him a lifelong habit of questioning authority. Before he left school, his headmaster suggested he drop the final "s" from his surname so that it would sound less English, advice the young Griffith took, and kept for the rest of his career. Griffith made his...

Mervyn Johns, actor from Pembroke, West Wales

  • Person's Name: Mervyn Johns
  • Fame as?: Actor from Pembroke
  • Fame Hilite: Welsh character actor of classic British wartime cinema and father of actress Glynis Johns.
  • Death info: Mervyn died on the 6th of September 1992 in Northwood, London.
  • Birth info: Born 18th of February 1899, Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales.
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    Johns was often cast as the mild, anxious "little man" of British cinema, a type he made his own in wartime and postwar films, and he remains fondly remembered as one of Ealing Studios' most reliable character performers.

  • Career Highlights:
    • Career Highlight: Starred in classic British wartime films including Went the Day Well? (1942) and the portmanteau horror film Dead of Night (1945)
    • Career Highlight: Played Bob Cratchit opposite Alastair Sim in the 1951 film of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge, and appeared in Ealing Studios favourites throughout the postwar years
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  • External Profile Pic: https://www.famouswelsh.com/images/
  • Connection: Born in Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, and educated at Llandovery College in South Wales.
  • Related Material:
  • Location String: Pembroke, West Wales
  • Connection Place Map: 51.6742,-4.9169
  • Comments:
    • Comment By: TheSwirve , This Comment: Glynis Johns father, born Llanelli. Half Way House plus many others.
Mervyn Johns David Mervyn Johns was born on 18 February 1899 in Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales. He was educated at Llandovery College and served as a pilot with the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force during the First World War. He initially trained as a medical student before turning to drama, graduating from RADA with honours, including a gold medal, in 1924. Johns became one of the most recognisable character actors in British wartime cinema, with starring roles in Saloon Bar (1940), The Next of Kin (1942), Went...

Peter Doran, actor born in Pembroke

  • Person's Name: Peter Doran
  • Fame as?: Actor and theatre director
  • Fame Hilite: Pembroke-born actor and former Artistic Director of the Torch Theatre, Milford Haven.
  • Birth info: Peter was born in 1957 in Pembroke, Wales.
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    After a career of more than fifty television and stage appearances, Doran spent twenty-five years as Artistic Director of the Torch Theatre in Milford Haven, winning Best Director at the Wales Theatre Awards in 2017 for Belonging/Perthyn.

  • Career Highlights:
    • Career Highlight: Actor, EastEnders
    • Career Highlight: Actor, Men Behaving Badly
    • Career Highlight: Artistic Director, Torch Theatre, Milford Haven (1998–2023)
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  • External Profile Pic: https://www.famouswelsh.com/images/
  • Connection: Born in Pembroke, Wales.
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  • Location String: Pembroke, Wales
  • Connection Place Map: 51.6764,-4.9155
  • Comments:
    • Comment By: jasper , This Comment: Now artistic director of 'The Torch Theatre' in Milford Haven.
Peter Doran is a Welsh actor and theatre director, born in 1957 in Pembroke, Wales. He built up a career of more than fifty television and theatre appearances, including roles in EastEnders, Men Behaving Badly, Poirot and Tiger Bay. Doran was one of the original company members when the Torch Theatre in Milford Haven first opened in 1977, and he later returned as its Artistic Director in 1998, a post he held for twenty-five years. As a director he won critical acclaim, including Best Director at the Wales Theatre...

Sue Jones-Davies, actress from Pembrokeshire

  • Person's Name: Sue Jones-Davies
  • Fame as?: Actress and Lady Mayor of Aberystwyth.
  • Fame Hilite: Best known for playing Judith Iscariot in Monty Python's Life of Brian; later Mayor of Aberystwyth.
  • Birth info: Born 1 January 1949 in Wales; exact birthplace unconfirmed, though she grew up in Dinas Cross, Pembrokeshire.
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    As Mayor of Aberystwyth from 2008 to 2009, Jones-Davies discovered that the town had informally kept 'Life of Brian' off local cinema screens for nearly thirty years. She sponsored a charity screening of the film in March 2009, attended by co-writers Michael Palin and Terry Jones, and in 2018 was awarded an honorary degree by Aberystwyth University.

  • Career Highlights:
    • Career Highlight: Played Judith Iscariot in Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
    • Career Highlight: Served as Mayor of Aberystwyth, 2008-2009
    • Career Highlight: Singer in the Welsh-language band Cusan Tan; honorary degree from Aberystwyth University, 2018
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  • External Profile Pic: https://www.famouswelsh.com/images/
  • Connection: Grew up in Dinas Cross, Pembrokeshire
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  • Location String: Dinas Cross, Pembrokeshire, Wales
  • Connection Place Map: 52.0121,-4.9247
  • Comments:
    • Comment By: PaulineE , This Comment: I'm not certain where Sue Jones Davies was born but she used to live in Dinas Cross in North Pembrokeshire. Her former childhood home was on the market late 2004.
    • Comment By: maushkaquizz , This Comment: I have seen sue read poetry and perform work on several occasions. She is a superb actress.
    • Comment By: vacymro , This Comment: She was also in a Welsh folk band some years ago called Cusan Tan. Played along withRobin Hugh Bowen.
Sue Jones-Davies, sometimes credited simply as Sue Davies, was born on 1 January 1949 in Wales. Her exact birth town is not confirmed by available sources, but she grew up in Dinas Cross, north Pembrokeshire, and went on to study at the University of Bristol. She is best known for playing Judith Iscariot in 'Monty Python's Life of Brian' (1979), and appeared in the original London production of 'Jesus Christ Superstar'. Her television and film credits include 'Rock Follies', which brought her a UK top-ten chart single...