Hampshire’s Heroes

You can find heroes from all walks of life across the county. From Jane Austen to William Walker, Hampshire has provided inspiration for literature, innovation, sport and military might.

Beatrice Shilling named Hampshire’s People’s hero
Culture-all ran an online vote asking members of the public to pick their own Hampshire Hero out of a list of ten unsung hero’s and Beatrice Shilling topped the bill with almost a quarter of the votes.

Hampshire’s Military Heroes

From King Alfred to the Duke of Wellington, or Lord Louis Mountbatten to the fearless winners of the Victoria Cross, Hampshire has played host to many military heroes. There are plenty to discover at Winchester’s Military Museums, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, Aldershot Military Museum or The Museum of Army Flying.
2010 is the centenary of Florence Nightingale's death, so watch out for celebrations around Romsey, where she grew up, next year.

Hampshire’s Literary Heroes

Jane Austen spent much of her life in Hampshire, so there are plenty of places to visit that provided inspiration for her novels, or in Portsmouth where Charles Dickens was born and where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle began his working life as a doctor, before creating Sherlock Holmes.
Travel inland to the glorious Hampshire countryside at Selborne to see the home of Gilbert White, the famous 18th century naturalist and author of The Natural History of Selborne.

Centenary of Flight

Southampton’s pioneer aviator, Edwin Rowland Moon, will be remembered during 2010 marking the centenary of the first flight from what is now Southampton Airport. The aircraft, Moonbeam II, was a monoplane designed and built by Moon. Some events are already planned to commemorate the flight.
See R J Mitchell’s legendary Spitfire, which evolved out of Mitchell’s engineering achievements whilst competing for the notorious Schneider Trophy.

William Walker is famed for single-handedly saving Winchester Cathedral from collapse; he spent six years diving alone into the murky waters beneath the mighty building to shore up its foundations.

Sporting heroes

Hampshire’s Tommy Green. won gold in one of the most gruelling Olympic events, the 50km walk in 1932 and remains the oldest ever champion.
Motoring heroes can be found at Beaulieu, which has amongst its exhibits the World Record-breaking Bluebird, driven by Donald Campbell, and an exhibition dedicated to that most famous of spy heroes - James Bond - not forgetting cars driven by father and son Graham and Damon Hill.

Celebrity Heroes

Alan Titchmarsh, the county’s Deputy Lieutenant lives in Alton, Amanda Holden grew up in Bishop’s Waltham, the medieval market town, while Colin Firth was born in Grayshott and went to school in Winchester. Eastleigh was home to comedian Benny Hill and Esther Rantzen has a home in the New Forest.