The Knowhere Guide

Local Heroes in Barry, Glamorgan*

Barry, Glamorgan Famous Residents

Cringing Cult of Celebrity (Famous residents and ex-residents.)

• Bob Hope
• Lee van Cleef at the Park Billy from Central Park is still alive!
• The most famous Barry bands came from the 60's The Cyclones ---- most probably the first The Present Tense --- once held the world record for non-stop playing in 1964 Suttons Last Three --- with Benjy Bennet on lead --- brill ! The Mustangs --- brilliant cover band no-one could do the hollies like them.
• Erm, we got a lot of INFAMOUS characters...see local police station for further details.
• Not many people make it out of Barry. One band going by the name of "My Red Cell (Babylose)" are braking down the getto walls and are on there way to become the one of best rock bands....ever, so keep your eyes peeled. Also two members of the 80's band the Dammed came out of Barry.
• To the man who wants to know what happened to the bummer man, he is alive and well i saw him shopping in Iceland the other day but alas he no longer has his yellow mac he had taken to wearing a rather fetching suit instead keep your eyes peeled he is still around!!!!!!!!!!!! What i want to know is what happened to man and who that used to wander around town and pick up all the dog end??????
• Who can forget that empire-builder, Ken Rogers RIP.
• Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Philleppe (or however u spell nthat) lived here for aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages but no1 knew! :'(
• Mel tovey (said too vey) sold his wifes hair tongs for £2.00 win at kempton and that lost.
• Derek Brockway of t.v. weather man fame !
• charlie dyke famous footballer used to play for chelsea in the late fifties(maybe) in his heyday , ilast saw him running the bar at the barry football club
• Russell Grant (?) Bob Hope. The local tramps Kitty (now dead) Bepo (heard a rumour hes dead) and Bummer Man (wheres he gone?)
• The Missing , top band , pity fame got to them.
• Porn Baron David Sullivan of the Daily Sport and Birmingham City FC fame was born here methinks.
• Dai Smith, fantastic Welsh historian grew up here. Gwynfor Evans, first Plaid Cymru president. Bob Hope was born in Barry and wouldn't let it be commemorated with a plaque when the council approached him (allegedly)
• didn't 'H' from steps (Ian Watkins) used to work as a red coat at Butlins in Barry Island?
• Russell Grant, Russell Goodway and that bloke who does the Welsh weather.
• Walter Sweeny ( ex mp ) wanted The island to become a prison camp. Thumbs up !
• Cuddly Russell Goodway - controversial leader of Cardiff City council lives here.
• Out Of Order, Legend, A Crocodile Named Daisy, The Seven Deadly Pilchards, all great Barry bands.
• Barry was the home of Jenkyn Morgan Edwards, several times the Chaired Bard of Wales. He taught at Barry Island School in the 30s I was one of his students. I don't like what I'm reading here about Barry, can it really have deteriorated that much?
• Gwyn Thomas (poet) taught here.
• Russel Grant has an apartment here.
• Bob Hope lived here as a child (may even have been born here).

Buskers, Street Entertainers

• BEPO!! The famous Barry tramp, he's been arrested for indecent exposure more time that I have!
• There is a guy selling posters outside the bank at King Square now. This is a gigantic leap forward for Barry in the "moving away from narrowmindedness".
• Beppo! very entertaining
• Buskers know that Barry is not a lucrative pitch. Fighting is a popular street entertainment in Barry and the audience is often invited to join in
• There is a kind of street entertainer down the island, called Burgess. Hes a fat old badboy alcho cider swigging 14 year old shagging kind of chap. Put a bottle of cider on the end of a fish line and swing it it front of him. Watch that bastard dance!

The Knowhere Guide started out as a list of places to skateboard in the UK. It is a compilation of (unedited) information and views supplied by users like yourself. It is not a conventional tourist guide!

In most cases, the information in each section has been submitted by more than one contributor (the credits at the bottom of the page list some, but not all, of the contributors) and some of it dates back to the 1970s.

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Have Your Say...

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Credits

Last updated: 2007-12-19