Map reveals the most popular famous people linked to Dorset towns

The map, which can be found through this link, uses the most popular searches on Wikipedia to change the face of the county.

Towns and cities are instead replaced by famous residents or people born or connected to that place.

The People Map of the UK website is based on data collected and processed from Wikipedia from July 2015 to May 2019.

Using the map, here are the most searched for people from each area of Dorset. 

Beaminster and Bridport – PJ Harvey

Coming top in both of these areas is the rock musician and singer-songwriter, Polly Jean Harvey.

Born and bred in Bridport, the singer and poet began her career in 1988 after joining Automatic Dlamini as a vocalist.

She later formed the PJ Harvey trio in 1991, releasing two albums before the West Bay resident went it alone as a solo artist.

PJ Harvey has enjoyed a successful career, with a further nine studio albums which attracted eight Brit Award nominations, seven Grammy Award nominations and two further Mercury Prize nominations.

Her acclaimed albums, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea and Let England Shake, yielded two Mercury Prizes, making her the only artist to achieve this feat.

Boscombe - Alex James

The Blur bassist was born and bred in Boscombe, before he left Dorset to form one of Britpop's most iconic bands. 

He has made no secret of his Dorset roots, and has starred in a promotional video for Bournemouth Tourism, wrote extensively about growing up in the town for his autobiography A Bit Of A Blur and was even awarded an honorary doctorate at the Bournemouth University Media School in 2010.

The Britpop icon and Classic FM DJ once paid tribute to the wealth of classical music history in Bournemouth, with an entire radio programme devoted to the town in 2014.

Bournemouth - Christian Bale

The Oscar-winning actor and star of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy and American Psycho attended Bournemouth School until the age of 16.

He earned a reputation as a method actor after he lost 63 pounds for his role in The Machinist and has been nominated for numerous Oscars and Golden Globes for his roles in American Hustle, The Fighter, The Big Short, and Vice. 

Dorchester – Thomas Hardy

Born in Higher Bockhampton in 1840, Mr Hardy went on to become one of the country's best known novelists and poets.

Enamoured with the beauty of the county of Dorset, it formed part of the "Wessex" of his novels and poems. The first of four children, Hardy was born small and thought at birth to be dead.

The Dorchester resident’s impact on the town can be felt today, with a school named after him and a statue at the Top o’ Town.

Hardy's birthplace in Bockhampton and his house Max Gate, both in Dorchester, are owned by the National Trust.

Lyme Regis – Mary Anning

In what should be no surprise to locals, Mary Anning is the most searched for resident in Lyme Regis.

And it's no surprise, the town loves her for putting the town on the map.

Mary Anning was a fossil collector and palaeontologist who became famous for her discoveries in she made in Jurassic marine fossil beds in the cliffs at Lyme Legis.

Her findings contributed to changes in scientific thinking about prehistoric life and the history of the Earth.

The famous local was portrayed by Oscar winner Kate Winslet, who said the role was one of the most ‘joyful experiences’ of her career – and described secluding herself in an isolated Dorset home to get her head into the role.

The Oscar-winning actress spent time in Lyme Regis during filming for Ammonite, which follows a fictitious relationship between the famous fossil hunter and another woman, played by Saoirse Ronan.

Poole – Edgar Wright

The film director was born in Poole before he and his family moved to Wells, Somerset, where he made short films.

He became known for the TV series Spaced, starring Simon Pegg, before directing the films Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, The World’s End and Baby Driver, as well as contributing to the scripts of The Adventures of Tintin and Ant-Man.

Edgar Wright has been known to return to Dorset and once spoke at the Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) where he twice failed to get onto the film course.

He spoke to film production students and share anecdotes about his time there, where he achieved an ND in Audio-Visual Design.

Portland – Edgar F. Codd

Edgar (Ted) Codd was a British computer scientist who laid the theoretical foundation for relational databases. The relational model, a very influential general theory of data management, remains his most memorable achievement.

He later worked for IBM in San Jose, California and received the Turing Award and was inducted as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery in 1994.

Shaftsbury – Robert Newton

Born in the Dorset town, he later emigrated to Cornwall in his early years.

The actor was in a number of films before his career-defining portrayal of Long John Silver in 1950’s Treasure Island – the film that became the standard for screen portrayals of historical pirates.

He continued to portray pirates in Blackbeard in 1952 and Long John Silver again in the 1954 film of the same name, which spawned a miniseries in the mid-1950s.

His exaggeration of his West Country accent is credited with popularising the stereotypical "pirate voice” and he later became the "patron saint" of the annual International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

He died in March 1956 aged just 50-years-old.

Sherborne – Chris Martin

Chris Martin of Coldplay went to school in Sherborne

Despite being born in Exeter, Chris Martin’s Dorset link is that he boarded at Sherborne School.

This is where he met future Coldplay manager and from there, became the frontman of one of Britain’s most successful bands in recent decades.

They have won numerous awards throughout their career, including nine Brit Awards, seven MTV Video Music Awards, seven MTV Europe Music Awards and seven Grammy Awards from 29 nominations

The Coldplay frontman has been known to visit his old school and visited the private school in June 2017 before heading to Glastonbury. 

Sturminster Newton – Keith Kyle

The British writer, broadcaster, and historian was born in Sturminster Newton on August 4, 1925 and had a glittering career working for the BBC, The Observer, The Spectator.

Swanage – Robert Brown

Robert Brown was known for his role as M in the Bond franchise

Best known for his role as "M" in the James Bond films, Robert had a career in films and television spanning 50 years and was one of Britain's most popular character actors.

He readily took a useful part in local life, becoming chairman of the Mowlem Trust and a stalwart of the local Bridge Club, a pastime to which he was devoted right up to his death.

He was involved in the forming of the Friends of the Mowlem and took a lively interest in the town's theatre and community centre, helping guide it through its financial difficulties in the early 1990s.

And he always maintained his interest in the lifeboat, which his father and other members of his family had served in for several generations.

Robert attended Swanage Grammar School in the 1930s where he became interested in drama and took leading parts in several school productions. He joined the Royal Navy and served throughout the war.

An outstanding swimmer, he played water polo for the Navy. On one of his visits to Swanage in the 1960s I talked him into refereeing a match we played at Studland Regatta - though I'm not sure he was impressed with our standard.

Strongly built and with rugged good looks, Robert was ship's slavemaster in the classic film Ben Hur.

But as spymaster M in the Bond films he is probably best remembered, playing that role in A View to a Kill (1985), The Living Daylights (1987), Octopussy (1983) and Licence to Kill (1989), was Admiral Hargreaves in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).

Robert always maintained his friendships and family links with Swanage and returned to live in the town until his death in November 2003.

Wareham – David Mellor

Born in Wareham, the British broadcaster was educated at Swanage Grammar School.

He later became a Conservative MP for Putney from 1979 and 1997.

Weymouth – Alan Carr

Born in Weymouth, the seaside town can take claim to producing one of Britain’s most popular comedians in recent years.

The stand-up comedian has gone on to host The Friday Night Project, Alan Carr’s Celebrity Ding Dong, Chatty Man and most recently a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.

In an interview with Dorset Echo in 2015, he recalled his early memories of the town.

He said: "I went back there and my mum was pointing out the place where we lived.

"I remember it as a happy time, going to places like Lulworth Cove.

"When I was working at the Prince Regent I was looking after a load of pensioners who would go there and quite often they'd be staying in the hotel next door and they'd come into our hotel by mistake.

"They'd always be welcome though. We'd let it slip. You're always welcome in Weymouth.

"I know it probably seems like I rave about every location for whatever reason but for Weymouth it is really genuine.

"I have a real love for the place, there's something special about it to me because I was born there. I do like to pop back.

"I love to walk along the seafront. It hasn't been spoilt by amusements and things.

"It's got that vibe of an old-fashioned seaside place."