The Knowhere Guide

Local Heroes in Portsmouth, Hampshire*

Portsmouth, Hampshire Famous Residents

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

• Sir Patrick Moore - the guy with the monocle who presents "The Sky at Night" lives in Southsea. I heard a rumour Elm Grove.
• Arnold Swarzenegger
• Fred Dineage... does he count
• I think his name was Paul Judkins... there was a story in one of the nationals about how he was one of the countries greatest ladies men back in the early 90's
• Ex Res. Peter Sellers, Arnie Schwarzenneger, James Callaghan, Arthur Conan Doyle,Charles Dicken, Rudyard Kipling, H.G. Wells, Simon Ward, Audrey Jeans, Paul Jones, Nevil Shute.
• All of the Portsmouth team
• Alan Knight (Pompey Goal keeper) london road
• Clolin Ware. Left to acquire fame as the authoritive expert of the mains drainage system of Bedfield in Suffolk.
• Arnold Schwartznegar started his training in a small Gym in tha Albert Road in Southsea before he became the big star he is today.
• Freddie Mercury, Marc Bolan, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, Isambard Brunel Kingdom, and me
• Nevil Shute - author Rudyard Kipling writer of the Jungle Book,spent much of his early childhood in Southsea. H.G.Wells spent sometime in Portsmouth working in a Drapers shop. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle the creator of Sherlock Holmes spent many years working as a doctor in Southsea, it was at this time he wrote his first Holmes novels. Peter Sellers - Film/Television/Radio Comic Actor. Isambard Kingdom Brunel - Famous Victorian Engineer.
• Ex-Monkee Davy Jones used to live in Bedhampton
• Sir Alec Rose sailed from Portsmouth on the Lively Lady back in 1968; Nelson of course - his flagship Victory is in the Naval Base. Charles Dickens was born here but only lived here till he was about 2; Dennis Healy went to what is now Mayfield School in North End (I think it was the Northern Grammar School before); Henry VIII used to live in Southsea Castle (well, sort of) - he built it and watched from the battlements as the Mary Rose sank on her maiden voyage.
• Roger Hodgson (ex-Supertramp) born here on Mar 21 1950 12:00 PM GMT!
• Charles Dickens himself and you can visit his birthplace too.

Buskers, Street Entertainers

• Pan Pipe geezers down comercial road!!!!Sweet as fuk!!!
• There is a wealth of undiscovered street entertainers roaming the streets of southsea. Check out the Palmerston Road area where all the ex-patients of St. James Mental Hospital have lovingly been placed back into the community.... Watch with delight as 'twitchy ginger bearded man' shuffles past you, gently pushing you off the pavement into the path of oncoming traffic.... chuckle heartily as 'terret syndrome man' approaches you for a friendly chat about the weather "f**k, theres a bollocky breeze in the c*nting air today" he roars as he waves his middle finger in your direction.... and marvel at the golden fountain of "weak bladder woman" as she hitches up her skirt and pisses her 110 year old urine on your very doorstep.... all this entertainment and you don't even have to pay.... ahhhh portsmouth.... my portsmouth....let it be yours.
• "The One Man And His Dog Roadshow" - basically a bloke and his dog (no surprises there) who randomly fetches a burst football. Is this still an attraction of Commercial Road?
• Commercial rd...palmerston rd..new gunwharf...approx 20 full time buskers
• The long haired guy who plays and sings the blues outside Boots who has been there since I first went down town as a kid on my own.
• In Portsmouth, Commercial Road, there is a small bearded man , who likes to play boyzone songs on a banjo, whilst operating a metal sort-of-teletubby contraption to entertain children.
• All along Palmerston Road and Commercial Road precincts especially on busy Saturdays.
• Well if you call the down-and-out with his lame, but entertaining, one-man-band on Southsea high street "a busker", then he is probably the one bright spot on Portsmouth's otherwise bleak busker scene!

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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Credits

Last updated: 2007-10-22