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People and politics
Born Here
166,586 notable people matched to the UK towns they were born in: the most famous person from each, the towns that punch above their weight, and why so many are hospital towns.
This is an interactive data study by Dr Tristan Hotham, built from open data. The map runs in your browser: explore it, search for places and switch layers. The write-up explains the method and what the data shows, and the data and code are open for anyone to reuse.
More in People and politics
Born and Bred? How Local Are MPs?Where 10,094 MPs since 1832 were born, set against the seats they won: for 170 years about a quarter were born in their seat's county, and since 2010 it is 41.9%.
Who Is Your Town Twinned With?All 29,437 twin town and sister city links on Wikidata as arcs on one map: a post-war European habit that peaked in 1990 and lost dozens of Russian links after 2022.
Mentioned in the House297,134 Commons mentions of UK towns and cities in Hansard since 1909: which places punch above their weight, and who names your constituency.
Who Won Here?All 49 UK general elections from 1832 to 2024 on one map: 31,736 seats, the forgotten uncontested elections, the Liberal fall and the Red Wall.
School CatchmentsEvery one of the UK's 27,024 state schools and how much ground each serves: the biggest catchment, Golspie High School, covers 2,215 km².
Where Would You Go to University?Every country by where its students most often go to study abroad, 1999 to 2023: old empires still show, Turkey is a magnet, and India has overtaken China in Britain.