OUR UNIQUE BRAND ALLOWS US CELEBRATE THE PEOPLE OF OUR TOWN.
John Thurlow
English secretary of state during Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate. He was responsible for creating a network of spies, both here and abroad and became head of a vast intelligence service that operated throughout Europe, gathering information about Royalist plots to overthrow Cromwell’s government.
He lived and worked in what is now know as the Cromwell Hotel.
Frank Dymoke
Frank enlisted in the Bedfordshire regiment in October 1911. He served for the whole war, finishing in January 1919 as a company sergeant major.
He played Football for Stevenage Town FC and was one of many who took part in the WW1 Christmas armistice. He said,
“Christmas morning was very cold with a hard frost and about three inches of snow. As it got light we saw two Germans standing up head and shoulders above their trench. On our right were the Gordon Highlanders, and all at once one of the jocks was through the wire and going towards the Germans. He got halfway and called out: “Come on, you buggers.” They met and shook hands, and after that we and the Germans were swarming out like a big football crowd.”
“We exchanged sweets and smokes and played football with a rag ball. It seemed as if the war was over.”
Albert Pierrepoint
Was an English hangman who would stay at The Cromwell Hotel, the night before travelling to London to perform his official duties.
He executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His father Henry and uncle Thomas were official hangmen before him. Pierrepoint and his wife ran a pub, until they retired to the seaside town of Southport in the 1960s.
Jack O’Legs
According to local legend, Jack lived in a cave in a wood near Stevenage. One year there was a poor harvest and the bakers raised the price of flour and bread. Jack ambushed and stole from the bakers and gave the spoils to his friends.
When one day the bakers caught him in the act they decided to hang him. In an act of mercy they gave him a final wish.
Jack asked to be pointed in the direction of Weston, so he could shoot an arrow with his huge bow, that only he could pull. Jack said “Where the arrow lands, I wish to be buried”. He shot his arrow three miles, into the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church, Weston, which is where he is now buried.
Rosie The Rover
Rosie was punished by the Six Hills Imp, for digging up his hills. The Imp’s punishment for her mis-deeds, was to make poor Rosie paw less.
On hearing the plight of poor Rosie the good people of Airbus & MBNA used their collective knowhow to create a robotic Mars Rover transport system, which allows her to boldly explore our planet and beyond.
Ellen Terry
Born into a family of famous actors, such as,‘The Guilgud’s and the Richardson’s’. Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and toured throughout the British provinces in her teens. She is the mother of Gordon Craig, after whom our theatre is named.
Edward Gordon Craig, was born in Orchard Rd formerly (Station Rd) in 1872. The surname Craig was chosen to avoid the stigma of illegitimacy, as the cohabitation and children born out of wedlock were considered scandalous situations at the time.
She retired from acting for six years but resumed in 1874.
In 1878 she joined Henry Irving’s company as his leading lady, and for more than the next two decades she was considered the leading Shakespearean and comic actress in Britain.