Clock on Ilford High Road

The accuracy of some of these cannot be guaranteed!!

• One of the best specimens of a mammoth was found in Ilford, and the only one with a complete skull. You can see it in the Natural History Museum (thanks Kim)
  
  
• You know Dick Turpins wife stayed in Ilford, next to the Turpin pub in Newbury park. The house still stands and is in poor repair. (thanks Rich)
  
  
• St Peters church in Aldbourgh Road North, Newbury Park has something quite amazing. In its Christian graveyard is berried a Jewish American airline pilot who served protecting this county from the sky above from the Germans who were bombing us. He was shot down in the last world war. A Jew in a Christian grave, maybe the only one of its kind in the UK. Both Jews and Chritians respect there loved ones in this graveyard. It goes to show that multicultural Britain may have been started not by politicians or diplomats - but by the good people of Ilford. (thanks Richard)
  
  
• There is an underground tunnel that links Barkingside police
  station with the magistrates court over the road. It goes right under the hight street !! Its so they can transfer the prisioners without hassle. I suppose you never see the police
  crossing the road there !!! (thanks Marc)
  
  
• Iron Maiden were from Ilford. (thanks Marc)
  
  
• Louise Weener from Sleeper (the indie band) was from Gants Hill. (thanks Marc)
  
  
• Winston Churchill slept in the library of Woodford County High School (thanks Nikki)
  
  
• Noel Edmonds went to The Glade Primary School, dropped in quite literally a few years ago in a helicopter.
  
  
• Two trains with nuclear waste pass through Ilford every week!
  
  
• Ian Durie was at the Gants Hill cinema in 1978 when the floor collapsed.
  
  
• Paul Ince used to live in Ilford, Trevor Brooking went to Ilford County High School.
  
  
• Jenny Powell (Wheel of Fortune) went to Woodford County High
  
  
• The huge multinational photographic company (Ilford Imaging) started out here in Ilford! They were located where the Ilford Sainsbury's is now. (thanks Mike)
  
  
• Barnardos, the charity for children is based in Barkingside.
  
  
• Ilford was mentioned in a Kelloggs Cornflake ad!! (as at 5/2/2001). It features a broadcast journalist on location who hasn't had his cornflakes. Ive only heard it once on the radio, but Newsreader says something like: 'And over we go to outside Ilford Town Hall'. The journalist replies 'Ilford town hall? I thought you meant Guildford Town Hall'.
  
  
• Vincent Hitchcock, the first English Bullfighter in Spain
  (a.k.a. El Inglesi) went to school in Ilford. (thanks George)
  
  
• Jo from S Club 7 was a performer at Wild Jack Henry's before she became famous. (thanks Ian)
  
  
• Nigel Benn, the former World Middleweight Boxing champ, is from Ilford. In fact I remember him being announced in some of his fights in Las Vegas as Nigel Benn fighting out of Ilford, England!!! (thanks Ahmed)
  
  
• Sean Maguire (as a child was in Grange Hill, as an adult was in Eastenders and Dangerfield, and then launched a brief pop career) came from Ilford. (thanks Angel)
  
  
• Maggie Smith, winner of 2 Oscars, 5 BAFTAs, 2 Golden Globes and 1 Emmy is from Ilford. (thanks Angel)
  
  
• See a list of actors/actresses from Ilford on the Internet Movie Database
  
  
• Ted Blake was one of the first PE teachers to pick up on trampolining and subsequently became a global name in the trampolining world - he taught at Loxford School and one of his most successful students, (Pat Winkle) who went on to become British champion in 1963, was from Ilford as well. (thanks David)
  

Ian Durie and Jenny Powell facts were found on the Knowhere Guide to Ilford