<\/p>\n\n\n\n
50. Frank Bramley<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Art | 1857\u20131915 | Born: Sibsey<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Lincolnshire artist whose masterpiece belongs to the nation<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Frank Bramley was born at Sibsey, near Boston, in 1857. After studying at Lincoln School of Art, he continued his training at Antwerp\u2019s Royal Academy of Fine Arts, spent time in Venice and settled in Newlyn, Cornwall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bramley became a leading figure in the Newlyn School, whose artists brought new realism to paintings of fishing communities, domestic life and ordinary working people. He was particularly admired for atmospheric interiors and his handling of natural and artificial light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His masterpiece, A Hopeless Dawn<\/em>, shows two women learning that a fisherman has been lost at sea. Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1888, it was purchased for the nation through the Chantrey Bequest and is now part of Tate\u2019s collection. Bramley became a full Royal Academician in 1911.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the great paintings of Victorian Britain began with an artist who learned his craft in Lincoln and was born in a small Lincolnshire village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 49. Vernon Scannell<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Literature | 1922\u20132007 | Born: Spilsby<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The boxer, deserter and poet who wrote about war\u2019s human cost<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Born John Vernon Bain in Spilsby in 1922, Vernon Scannell became a poet, novelist, critic, broadcaster and professional boxer. His wartime experiences gave his finest writing its distinctive edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scannell served in North Africa and Normandy during the Second World War and deserted from the Army twice. Violence, fear and the psychological damage of combat remained recurring themes throughout his work. Walking Wounded<\/em>, one of his best-known poems, captures the damage carried by soldiers whose injuries cannot always be seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He published more than 30 poetry collections alongside novels, memoirs and children\u2019s books. His direct, conversational style explored war, relationships and human frailty without romanticising them. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1960, he continued writing into his eighties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Literature and boxing make an unusual combination. Add two desertions and an acclaimed body of war poetry, and Scannell becomes one of the most remarkable people born in Lincolnshire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 48. Anne Pashley<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sport and Music | 1935\u20132016 | Born: Skegness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Olympic medallist who became an opera singer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Anne Pashley achieved enough for two distinguished careers. Born at a family-run holiday camp in Skegness in 1935, she became one of Britain\u2019s finest young sprinters, placing third at the national championships shortly after her 16th birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pashley became British 100-yards champion and represented England and Great Britain. She won Commonwealth relay silver and European individual bronze in 1954. At the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, she helped Britain secure silver in the women\u2019s 4 x 100 metres relay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then she changed direction completely. After leaving elite athletics, Pashley trained as a soprano and built a professional opera career, performing with major companies and on leading British stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plenty of Olympians have succeeded in a second profession. Almost none have stepped from the running track into professional opera. Either half of Pashley\u2019s life would have been impressive; together they make the journey from Skegness to Olympic podium and opera house extraordinary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 47. Dame Sarah Swift<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Medicine and Nursing | 1854\u20131937 | Born: Kirton Skeldyke<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Lincolnshire\u2019s \u201cMighty Atom\u201d who helped professionalise nursing<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sarah Swift stood only 4ft 11in tall, but colleagues called her \u201cthe Mighty Atom.\u201d Born near Kirton in 1854, the tenant farmer\u2019s daughter trained as a nurse and rose to become Matron of Guy\u2019s Hospital in London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the First World War, Swift served as Matron-in-Chief of the British Red Cross and Order of St John nursing division, helping to organise care on an enormous scale. Her most enduring achievement came in 1916, when she helped found the College of Nursing, later the Royal College of Nursing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new organisation aimed to improve education, standards and professional recognition when nursing lacked much of its modern structure. Its registers also helped prepare the way for formal nurse registration in Britain. Swift was made a Dame in 1919 for her wartime service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More than a century later, the organisation she helped create represents hundreds of thousands of nursing and healthcare professionals. One of Britain\u2019s most important professional bodies owes its existence partly to a farmer\u2019s daughter from Lincolnshire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 46. Frank Pick<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Design and Transport | 1878\u20131941 | Born: Spalding<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Spalding-born visionary who helped give London its look<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Millions encounter Frank Pick\u2019s legacy every day without knowing his name. Born in Spalding in 1878, Pick trained in law before becoming one of the most influential figures behind London\u2019s Underground and the London Passenger Transport Board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pick believed public transport should be functional, attractive and instantly recognisable. Under his direction, the Underground commissioned exceptional architects, artists and designers. Its roundel, typography, posters and station architecture became parts of a coherent identity admired around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His insight sounds obvious today but was revolutionary: good design could make everyday life better. Pick commissioned some of the finest commercial art of the inter-war period and helped create a visual language that still feels unmistakably London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also promoted industrial design nationally and served as president of the Design and Industries Association. Next time you see the Underground roundel, remember that one of the men who established London\u2019s modern visual identity was the son of a Spalding draper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 45. Sir Halford Mackinder<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Geography and Politics | 1861\u20131947 | Born: Gainsborough<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The geographer whose ideas changed how nations view the world<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Born in Gainsborough in 1861, Halford Mackinder became a founding figure of geopolitics: the study of how geography influences international power and strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mackinder helped establish geography as a serious university discipline in Britain, directed the London School of Economics from 1903 to 1908 and served as an MP. His enduring reputation, however, rests on a powerful idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his 1904 paper The Geographical Pivot of History<\/em>, Mackinder argued that control of the vast central landmass of Eurasia\u2014later called the \u201cHeartland\u201d\u2014could be crucial to global power. The theory influenced generations of strategists, academics and policymakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More than a century later, Mackinder\u2019s work remains part of debates about Europe, Russia and Asia. He did not redraw the map; he changed how political leaders interpreted it. Ideas developed by a Gainsborough doctor\u2019s son travelled into universities, governments and military establishments around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 44. Field Marshal Sir William Robertson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Military | 1860\u20131933 | Born: Welbourn<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The private soldier who rose to the top of the British Army<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n William Robertson\u2019s ascent remains unique in British military history. Born at Welbourn in 1860, the son of the village tailor and postmaster, he left school at 13 and worked in domestic service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1877, aged 17, Robertson enlisted as a private soldier. He climbed steadily through the ranks, earned a commission, passed the demanding Staff College entrance examination and entered the highest levels of command. During the First World War, he became Chief of the Imperial General Staff, the government\u2019s principal professional military adviser, before promotion to Field Marshal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Robertson was the first British soldier to rise from private to field marshal. His support for concentrating forces on the Western Front and for Douglas Haig\u2019s strategy brought him into conflict with Prime Minister David Lloyd George, and historians still debate his wartime judgement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whatever the verdict on strategy, the personal achievement is astonishing: a village boy from Lincolnshire overcame the Army\u2019s class barriers and completed the ultimate journey from the lowest rank to the highest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 43. Dame Sybil Thorndike<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Stage and Screen | 1882\u20131976 | Born: Gainsborough<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the great dames of the British stage<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Before Judi Dench or Maggie Smith became theatrical national treasures, there was Sybil Thorndike. Born in Gainsborough in 1882, she trained as a classical pianist, but recurring problems with her hands made a professional music career impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n British theatre gained instead. Thorndike acted professionally for more than six decades, performing Shakespeare, Greek tragedy, modern drama, film and television. She became especially associated with George Bernard Shaw\u2019s Saint Joan<\/em>. Shaw reportedly created the role with her in mind, and the performance established Thorndike as one of the commanding actresses of the 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her films included Major Barbara<\/em>, The Prince and the Showgirl<\/em> and Shake Hands with the Devil<\/em>. Made a Dame for her contribution to drama, she continued acting into old age. A memorial service followed her death at Westminster Abbey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thorndike was born during Queen Victoria\u2019s reign and remained professionally active into the age of colour television\u2014an extraordinary career that began in Gainsborough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 42. Colin Dexter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Literature and Television | 1930\u20132017 | Born: Stamford<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Stamford schoolboy who created Inspector Morse<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For millions of readers and viewers, Oxford will always belong partly to Inspector Morse: the irritable, intellectual detective who loved beer, classical music, crosswords and his Jaguar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His creator, Norman Colin Dexter, was born in Stamford in 1930. The son of a taxi driver, he won a scholarship to Stamford School and studied Classics at Cambridge. Dexter became a teacher, but hereditary deafness forced him to change careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a wet family holiday in North Wales, he began writing a detective story. Published in 1975 as Last Bus to Woodstock<\/em>, it introduced Chief Inspector Morse. Twelve more novels followed, while John Thaw\u2019s television portrayal turned the character into an international phenomenon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The universe proved remarkably durable. Inspector Morse<\/em> led to Lewis<\/em> and Endeavour<\/em>, keeping Dexter\u2019s characters on television for more than three decades. He also made Hitchcock-style cameos in episodes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of British crime fiction\u2019s most enduring detectives began in the imagination of a classics teacher from Stamford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 41. Ray Clemence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Football | 1948\u20132020 | Born: Skegness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Skegness goalkeeper who became a Liverpool legend<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ray Clemence travelled from the Lincolnshire coast to three European Cup victories. Born in Skegness in 1948, he began at Scunthorpe United before Liverpool manager Bill Shankly signed the teenage goalkeeper for about \u00a318,000 in 1967.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It became one of football\u2019s great bargains. Clemence made 665 appearances for Liverpool and provided the calm last line of defence during one of the club\u2019s most successful eras. He won five league championships, three European Cups, two UEFA Cups, the FA Cup and League Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Liverpool\u2019s 1978\u201379 title-winning season, Clemence conceded only 16 goals in 42 league matches. He later joined Tottenham Hotspur, won further silverware and represented England 61 times, sharing his international era with rival goalkeeper Peter Shilton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After retiring, Clemence remained in football as a coach, including many years with England. For Liverpool supporters, he remains one of Europe\u2019s finest goalkeepers\u2014and one of the greatest sportsmen born in Lincolnshire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Numbers 40\u201331: Entertainers, Athletes and Modern Lincolnshire Icons<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 40. Ronni Ancona<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Comedy and Television | Born 1968 | Born: Louth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Lincolnshire-born impressionist who could become almost anybody<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ronni Ancona\u2019s time in Lincolnshire was brief: born in Louth in 1968, she moved to Scotland with her family when she was only days old. Nevertheless, her birth makes one of Britain\u2019s most accomplished impressionists a genuine Lincolnshire legend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ancona became a household name alongside Alistair McGowan in BBC One\u2019s The Big Impression<\/em>. She did more than reproduce voices, capturing the posture, expressions and tiny mannerisms that made celebrities instantly recognisable. Her subjects ranged from Victoria Beckham and Nigella Lawson to Audrey Hepburn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The programme became one of the BBC\u2019s leading comedies and won a BAFTA in 2003. Ancona subsequently developed a varied career as an actor, writer and comedian, appearing in productions including Last Tango in Halifax<\/em>, The Trip to Italy<\/em> and Skins<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is an appealing irony here: a performer famous for convincingly becoming people from everywhere else was actually born in Louth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 39. Robert Webb<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Comedy, Television and Writing | Born 1972 | Born: Boston<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Boston-born star of one of Britain\u2019s defining modern sitcoms<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Robert Webb was born in Boston in 1972 and grew up in Lincolnshire before studying English at Cambridge. At the university\u2019s Footlights club he met David Mitchell, beginning a comedy partnership that would span television, radio, stage and books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Webb\u2019s defining role was Jeremy \u201cJez\u201d Usborne in Channel 4\u2019s Peep Show<\/em>. Selfish, deluded and permanently confident despite the evidence, Jez formed a painfully funny partnership with Mitchell\u2019s inhibited Mark Corrigan. The sitcom\u2019s point-of-view cameras and brutally honest internal monologues made it one of the great British comedies of its generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pair also created That Mitchell and Webb Look<\/em>, while Webb appeared in programmes including Back<\/em> and The Smoking Room<\/em>. His memoir How Not to Be a Boy<\/em> explored masculinity, grief and his Lincolnshire upbringing with striking honesty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cambridge brought Mitchell and Webb together, but the story began in Boston\u2014birthplace of the actor behind one of 21st-century television\u2019s most memorable comic characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 38. Elizabeth Jennings<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Literature | 1926\u20132001 | Born: Boston<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The only woman among the influential poets of \u201cThe Movement\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Elizabeth Jennings was born in Boston in 1926 and moved to Oxford aged six. She studied English at St Anne\u2019s College and published her first poetry collection in 1953.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Three years later, Jennings appeared in Robert Conquest\u2019s influential anthology New Lines<\/em>. That placed her among the writers known as The Movement, alongside Philip Larkin, Kingsley Amis and Thom Gunn. Significantly, she was the group\u2019s only woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her clear, apparently simple poems explored faith, love, mental health, relationships and the search for emotional order. A committed Roman Catholic, she wrote about religious experience without becoming inaccessible or preachy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her collection A Way of Looking<\/em> won the Somerset Maugham Award. Later honours included the WH Smith Literary Award and a CBE, and she ultimately published more than 20 poetry books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jennings\u2019 work reached publications including The Times Literary Supplement<\/em> and The New Yorker<\/em>, carrying the voice of a Boston-born poet to an international readership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 37. Joe Brown<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Music and Entertainment | Born 1941 | Born: Swarby, near Sleaford<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The rock \u2019n\u2019 roll star admired by generations of musicians<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe Brown was born at Swarby, near Sleaford, in 1941 before moving to London aged two. By the late 1950s, he was helping shape British rock \u2019n\u2019 roll as skiffle gave way to a new musical era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His biggest hit, A Picture of You<\/em>, reached number two in 1962. Yet Brown\u2019s importance extends beyond chart positions. A gifted guitarist, ukulele player, banjoist, mandolinist and fiddler, he became a \u201cmusician\u2019s musician\u201d\u2014respected by the performers around him as much as by audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brown knew The Beatles before Beatlemania and became especially close to George Harrison. At the 2002 Concert for George<\/em>, he closed the evening with a poignant ukulele performance of I\u2019ll See You in My Dreams<\/em>, one of the show\u2019s most memorable moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before pop stardom, Brown worked for British Railways and trained as a steam-locomotive fireman. It is a wonderfully 1950s route from a Lincolnshire village to more than six decades of British entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 36. Patricia Hodge<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Stage and Screen | Born 1946 | Born: Cleethorpes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The versatile actor behind some of television\u2019s most formidable women<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Patricia Hodge was born in Cleethorpes in 1946 and initially trained as a teacher. Acting proved too strong a calling, and she won a place at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her West End debut came in the early 1970s, followed by Bob Fosse\u2019s production of Pippin<\/em>. Television brought wider recognition through roles including Phyllida Erskine-Brown in Rumpole of the Bailey<\/em>, while her film work included Harold Pinter\u2019s Betrayal<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A younger audience knows Hodge as Penny, Miranda Hart\u2019s gloriously snobbish mother in Miranda<\/em>, forever declaring \u201csuch fun!\u201d She later delighted viewers as the indulged Mrs Pumphrey in All Creatures Great and Small<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Comedy represents only part of her achievement. Hodge is a formidable stage performer who won an Olivier Award for Money<\/em> at the National Theatre. Her ability to move between serious drama and broad comedy has sustained a distinguished career across British theatre, film and television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 35. Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Medicine and Public Life | Born 1964 | Born: Boston<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The scientist whose memorable metaphors helped explain a pandemic<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Born and raised in Boston, Jonathan Van-Tam attended Boston Grammar School before studying medicine at the University of Nottingham. He specialised in influenza, epidemiology, vaccines and pandemic preparedness\u2014expertise that became vital when Covid-19 spread around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As England\u2019s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, \u201cJVT\u201d became a familiar figure at Downing Street briefings. His unusual gift was explaining complicated medical ideas without making audiences feel lost. Football, penalties and trains entering stations became memorable metaphors for infection, vaccination and public-health decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His Lincolnshire roots were often visible in his Boston United ties. A longstanding supporter, he received the Freedom of the Borough and was knighted for services to public health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For a remarkable period, an epidemiologist from Boston became one of Britain\u2019s most recognisable public figures. Van-Tam\u2019s calm authority and unmistakably Lincolnshire delivery helped millions understand the science behind decisions affecting their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 34. Nicholas Parsons<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Radio and Television | 1923\u20132020 | Born: Grantham<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The broadcaster who spent half a century preventing hesitation, repetition or deviation<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For more than 50 years, Nicholas Parsons repeated three famous rules: no hesitation, repetition or deviation. Born in Grantham in 1923, he enjoyed one of British entertainment\u2019s longest careers as an actor, comedian, television presenter and radio host.<\/p>\n\n\n\n BBC Radio 4\u2019s Just a Minute<\/em> began in 1967 with Parsons as chairman. Contestants had to speak for 60 seconds on a subject without breaking those rules. Parsons remained in the chair for more than half a century and did not miss an episode until 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His broader career included acting, work as Arthur Haynes\u2019s straight man, appearances with Benny Hill and presenting ITV\u2019s hit quiz Sale of the Century<\/em>. Courteous, immaculately dressed and apparently unflappable, Parsons represented order while generations of comedians tried to dismantle it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He originally trained as an engineering apprentice, which may explain his extraordinary ability to keep a deceptively chaotic radio format running smoothly into his nineties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 33. Geoff Capes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sport | 1949\u20132024 | Born: Holbeach<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Fenland giant who became the world\u2019s strongest man<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n At around 6ft 6in and 26 stone at his competitive peak, Geoff Capes looked superhuman. The Holbeach-born athlete was also far more than a television strongman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Capes represented Great Britain at three Olympic Games, dominated British shot putting and won Commonwealth gold in 1974 and 1978. His 1980 throw of 21.68 metres remains the British outdoor record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He then won World\u2019s Strongest Man<\/em> in 1983 and 1985, becoming a popular television figure through feats of extraordinary strength. Yet his private passion provided a delightful contrast: budgerigars. Capes became an expert breeder and showman and served as president of the Budgerigar Society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He maintained close links with Lincolnshire and helped develop young athletes through the Lincolnshire Throws Academy. When Capes died in 2024, Britain lost a champion and a larger-than-life sporting personality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n World-class shot-putter, twice the world\u2019s strongest man and champion budgerigar breeder: few sporting careers have contained more unexpected variety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 32. Jennifer Saunders<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Comedy and Television | Born 1958 | Born: Sleaford<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Sleaford-born writer who created Absolutely Fabulous<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jennifer Saunders was born in Sleaford in 1958. At the Central School of Speech and Drama she met Dawn French, beginning one of British comedy\u2019s great partnerships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n French and Saunders joined the alternative-comedy generation surrounding the Comic Strip before launching their BBC sketch show in 1987. Its film spoofs, celebrity parodies and surreal characters made the pair household names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saunders then created something even bigger. Absolutely Fabulous<\/em> arrived in 1992, starring Saunders as chaotic fashion PR executive Edina Monsoon and Joanna Lumley as Patsy Stone. Outrageous, fashionable and magnificently badly behaved, the series became an international success and eventually produced a feature film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saunders did not merely play Edina: she wrote the programme, creating phrases and characters that endured for decades. Her later work has included Jam & Jerusalem<\/em>, Shrek 2<\/em>, Sing<\/em> and numerous television appearances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Behind Edina\u2019s chaos was a disciplined comedy writer\u2014and one of the most influential entertainers born in Lincolnshire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 31. Tony Jacklin<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Golf | Born 1944 | Born: Scunthorpe<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The golfer who taught Europe to believe it could beat America<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Tony Jacklin was born in Scunthorpe in 1944, the son of a steelworker. At the 1969 Open, he ended an 18-year wait for a British champion. A year later, he won the US Open by seven shots\u2014the first British winner for half a century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those two majors made Jacklin a golfing great. His second act changed the Ryder Cup. As Europe\u2019s captain four times from 1983 to 1989, he improved preparation, organisation and team identity. Europe won in 1985 for the first time in 28 years, then achieved a historic first victory on American soil in 1987. A tie in 1989 allowed Europe to retain the trophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jacklin also took part in \u201cThe Concession\u201d at the 1969 Ryder Cup, when Jack Nicklaus sportingly conceded his final putt to ensure the match ended tied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2002, Jacklin won majors, beat America and then showed a generation of European golfers how to do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Numbers 30\u201321: Explorers, Reformers and World-Changing Creators<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 30. William Stukeley<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n History and Archaeology | 1687\u20131765 | Born: Holbeach<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The doctor who recorded Stonehenge before archaeology properly existed<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Long before archaeology became an academic discipline, William Stukeley was travelling through Britain measuring ancient monuments, sketching their remains and asking who had built them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Born in Holbeach in 1687, Stukeley studied medicine at Cambridge and worked as a physician. Antiquities became his great obsession, particularly Stonehenge and Avebury. His detailed surveys preserved evidence of features later damaged or destroyed, creating something like a photographic record more than a century before photography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stukeley was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1718. Not all his conclusions were correct: he helped popularise the mistaken idea that Druids built Stonehenge. His methods mattered more. He observed, measured and recorded ancient sites systematically rather than relying only on speculation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was also a friend of Sir Isaac Newton and wrote one of the earliest accounts of Newton recalling the fall of an apple. Archaeologists still consult Stukeley\u2019s drawings, while generations know Newton\u2019s apple partly because a curious antiquarian from Holbeach preserved the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Frank](\"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/lincolnshire\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/50-frank-bramley-lincolnshire-legend.jpg\")
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Vernon Scannell, Poet, novelist and former professional boxer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Black-and-white](\"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/lincolnshire\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/48-anne-pashley-lincolnshire-legend.jpg\")
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