Lesley Garrett
   Soprano Lesley Garrett. has charmed audiences across the globe with her open, inclusive approach to opera which has seen her bring one of the worlds most elitist art-forms out of stuffy concert halls and into the nation’s living rooms.
Born in Thorne in 1955 and a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, Garrett’s career was effectively launched when she won the Kathleen Ferrier Prize in 1979, an award which many consider to be Britain’s most prestigious singing title.
Throughout the 1980s she starred in many high-profile productions for the English National Opera before her recording career started to take off in the 1990s. Releasing many collections of popular operatic arias Garrett’s first CD ‘DIVA!’ sold in excess of 60,000 units while in 1996 she received the Gramaphone award for best selling classical artist of the year.
However it wasn’t until the airing of her BBC series ‘Lesley Garrett Tonight’ in 1998 that the singer really embedded herself in the national consciousness. Appearances on The Lily Savage Show and ‘Jobs for the Girls’ with Linda Robson and Pauline Quirke soon showed that she had huge crossover appeal.
Later that year ITV’s ‘South Bank Show’ dedicated an entire episode to Lesley’s meteoric rise to the top of the operatic world and she also found time to tour America and the Far East.
Her fame saw her headline a special Millennium Eve concert at the Royal Observatory with Eurythmics, Mick Hucknall and Brian Ferry while later that year her talent on the big stage saw her clinch singing duties for the very last ‘Abide with me’ at the 2000 FA Cup Final, before the closure of Wembley stadium.
The little Donny lass with a house in Epworth and the big voice also ended up bringing TV cameras to her home town of Thorne when she took part in the BBC genealogy documentary series ‘Who do you think you are?’
However Garrett’s crowning achievement must be when she earned the ultimate form of royal approval and was awarded a CBE by the Queen in 2002 for her services to music.
 
 Alick Jeffrey
  ALICK Jeffrey was destined to be the finest English footballer of his or any other generation before fate stepped in and robbed him, and the sport, of a unique talent.
So reads the back cover of The Life Story of Doncaster Rovers Legend Alick Jeffrey, the book penned by former Free Press news editor Peter Whittell which tells the story of arguably the greatest player ever to turn out for the Belle Vue side.
Forget the club’s recent success, back in the day when the talk was of the skills of the people on the pitch rather than the activities off it, Alick was Doncaster Rovers - a name which stayed long in the minds of anyone lucky enought to see him play.
But a badly broken leg, suffered while playing for Young England when he was only 17, effectively put an end to his promise-filled career and left the football world with one unanswered question: Just how good could he have been? The game’s greats had their answers.
The late Sir Stanley Matthews said of “King” Alick: “I predict that he can become one of the greatest inside forwards in the game. His play bears the stamp of genius.” While Jackie Milburn, the former Newcastle United and England forward said: “This boy has everything. He is by far the best youngster I have ever seen.”
And Manchester United legend, Sir Matt Busby, the builder of the world-famous Busby Babes team, who planned to take Alick to Old Trafford to figure in his plans for European football domination once famously told the skilled teenager: “I will come and get you in time.”
Alick had already bagged 34 goals in three seasons at Belle Vue in the mid 50s when his leg was shattered, forcing him out of the game until the 1963-64 season. But he bounced back in remarkable form, hammering an astonishing 36 goals in the 1964-65 season from 46 starts and finding a further 22 the following season as Rovers’ clinched the Division Four championship.
After retiring from the beautiful game, Alick became the larger than life landlord of the Black Bull pub in the Market Place where football fans from across the country would drop in for a pint and a chat about the old times. And when he died at the age of 61 in November 2000, the town came to a standstill for one of the biggest funerals Doncaster had ever seen - thousands of mourners packing into Belle Vue, just like they did in Alick’s heyday to roar him on from the stands, to pay their respects to a footballing great.

 
 Kevin Keegan
  “I’ll tell you honestly, I’d love it if we beat them, love it!” - the infamous passionate outburst from Doncaster born footballing legend Kevin Keegan. It came as Newcastle were fighting tooth and nail for the Premiership title in 1996 with Manchester United after a 12 point lead was eroded. Manchester duly collected the title once again. It was a famous moment in a fluctuating career in management, which in some ways sadly outshone a glittering career in which Keegan became a world superstar and was one of English football’s greatest ever players. Rejected Born in 1951 in Elm Road, Armthorpe, the man well known for two Ps - perm and passion, was famously rejected by Doncaster Rovers, on his way to impressive success. The working class son of a miner was first taught to play football by a nun at his primary school, St Francis Xavier Catholic Primary School, in Balby, and then attended The Armthorpe School. He started his career at Rovers’ rivals Scunthorpe United and made 120 appearances for the club before an offer of £35,000 was accepted from Liverpool in the summer of 1971. Here he scored 100 goals and made 323 appearances - establishing himself as a quick and incisive striker. He sealed his successful time at the club in 1977 as Liverpool charged towards an unprecedented treble of League championship, FA Cup and European Cup. The team missed out on the FA Cup, but won the other two. He was to leave Liverpool and joined Hamburg SV in Germany for £500,000. Kenny Dalglish replaced him. With Hamburg, Keegan became a worldwide superstar and was twice made European Footballer of the Year. He played for them in the 1980 European Cup final, losing to Nottingham Forest, before returning to England to play for Southampton. At the same time, his England career began to take off and he captained them in the 1980 European Championships in Italy and finally reached a World Cup when England got to the 1982 finals in Spain. That year he joined Newcastle United, where he quickly became a cult hero - scoring an impressive 48 goals in 78 appearances. His managerial career included spells with Newcastle, Fulham, England and Manchester City - before retiring in 2005. He has returned to his town of birth on several occasions, once in September 2000 following the death of mother Doris, who was 76. Keegan, who is married to Jean and has two daughters, will be forever be remembered in Doncaster folk-lore as a local lad who ‘dun’ well.

 
 Tommy Simpson
  “PUT me back on my bike.” Supposedly the last words spoken by cyclist Tommy Simpson as he strove for glory in the 1967 Tour de France, the race which would prove to be one race too many for the Harworth-born biker. For it was on the barren slopes of Mount Ventoux in Provence that Simpson, driven by the dream to win one of sport’s greatest prizes, breathed his last in a tragic and painful demise. He’d already toppled off his bike as extreme exhaustion on the baking hot climb took its toll, his 29-year-old body racked with pain and soaked in sweat as he battled on. It was a race he had dreamed of, growing up in the Doncaster pit village. This was the ambition he nurtured, this was the ultimate goal, the biggest prize of all. Tommy Simpson was unique, a one-off, the most successful Englishman to break into the closed shop of Continental racing where its stars are treated like gods. He took them all on in their own countries - and the crowds loved this mildly eccentric Englishman with a quick smile and a wicked sense of humour. Although his death was put down to dehydration and heat exhaustion, doctors found traces of stimulants in his body.The use of stimulants was rife in those days and he simply went along with the flow. Two memorials exist to Simpson - one at the side of the road where he fell in Provence and another in Harworth where a small museum showing off some of his cycling memorabilia exists at Harworth and Bircotes Sports and Social Club. He also won the 1965 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award - and remains the only cyclist ever to have won the accolade.

 
 Tommy Joyce
  DUBBED the Marathon Man, Tommy Joyce has never been shy of going the extra mile for a worthy cause. Ex-boxer Tommy’s astonishing feats of endurance have made him a legendary figure in Doncaster and earned tens of thousands of pounds for charities. With a Commonwealth Games bronze medal under his belt, Tommy was no slouch in the boxing ring - but it was when he turned his attention to running that his rise to fame really began. Tommy started fundraising after his mother died of cancer and soon earned the nickname Marathon Man because of the long-distance running that has become his charity hallmark. Arguably his toughest challenge came in November 2002, when he ran 20 marathons in as many days in a gruelling test of stamina that raised more than £6,000 for the Weston Park Hospital cancer appeal in Sheffield. Despite pulling a tendon in his leg on the fourth day of the ordeal, Tommy soldiered on around a round circuit that started and finished in his native Mexborough and completed each day’s run in under five and a half hours. The feat earned him the title Yorkshireman of the Year for 2003. Other high-profile highlights have included a 24 hour endurance run and a host of other marathons up and down the country - from the London Marathon to 26 miles on a treadmill in a local supermarket. In 2004 his achievements were rewarded with the honour of carrying the Olympic torch through London. Tommy’s standing in the community was reflected in the wealth of get-well messages he received earlier this year when he was admitted to Mexborough Montagu Hospital after complaining of breathing problems. He is now back home and making a good recovery, though wife Jean joked: “I’ll probably have to tie him down to stop him running!” Tommy was awarded the MBE in the 2007 New Year's Honours.

 
 Brian Blessed
  THE booming Shakespearean voice, the bristling beard and sheer presence all combine to make Brian Blessed an unmistakable face in the world of stage and screen. Blessed was born in Mexborough in 1937 and came to fame playing PC ‘Fancy' Smith in the BBC TV police drama series Z-Cars. But it is for his bellowing voice and robust stature that have helped to make him such a big name and a cult figure among people who adore his powerful stage presence which has led to a string of roles in a host of blockbuster movies. Growing up in Goldthorpe, few would have believed that the shy youngster would grow up to star in films such as Flash Gordon, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves and Star Wars: Episode One: The Phantom Menace and also be proclaimed by one magazine as “the loudest man alive.” And he’s even made it into the top ten. For Flash, the theme song from Flash Gordon, recorded by rockers Queen famously includes snippets of Blessed’s dialogue including the classic “Gordon’s alive?” line which is now forever linked with Blessed. However, the star, who has also lent his name to a string of TV hits such as Blackadder, Dr Who and Blake’s Seven is also an acclaimed mountaineer and adventurer and has made three attempts to climb Mount Everest. Although he has never made it to the peak, up until 2003, he held the record for the highest point reached by a man of his age - 53 at the time. He has also trekked to the North Pole, climbed a string of other well-known peaks around the globe and is said to boast a collection of more than 2,000 animals at his home in Surrey.

 
 Tony Christie
THE man behind last year’s most instantly recognisable song, the one the whole country was clapping along to, the one that’s played at children’s parties and OAP get-togethers, the one that was played at the World Cup final in Berlin and on Centre Court at Wimbledon (do you know what it is yet?), well that man was born in Conisbrough. Anthony Fitzgerald was born in 1943 and was a pupil at Balby Street Junior and Northcliffe Schools. Today he is much better known as Tony Christie and THAT song (for the hermits amongst you) is (Is This The Way To) Amarillo?, which only reached number 18 in the charts when it was first released in 1971. Tony left school at 15 to study accountancy but even then he aspired to a career in the limelight and, aged just 17, he began performing as part of a duo called the Grant Brothers singing Everley Brothers and Roy Orbison songs. He also began fronting various bands, releasing his first single with The Trackers called Life`s Too Good To Waste in 1966. He married Sue in 1967 and two years later signed for MCA records. Within a year he had two major hits with Las Vegas and I Did What I Did For Maria. During the 1970s Tony sold more than 10 million records worldwide. Although things were quieter in the 1980s and 1990s in Britain, he continued to be successful in the rest of Europe, especially Germany. His comeback in his home country started in 1999 when Tony was asked to sing Walk Like A Panther by Jarvis Cocker and found himself back on Top of the Pops after 25 years’ absence. But it was the re-release of (Is This The Way To) Amarillo? in 2005 to raise money for Comic Relief that was to fully restore his celebrity status. The song stayed at number one for seven weeks and his album, The Definitive Collection, went straight in at number one on the downloads chart. Following the song's success, Tony was awarded the freedom of Amarillo, Texas. He released another version (Is This The Way To The World Cup?) to coincide with the World Cup earlier this year.

 
 Jeannette Fish
SOMETIMES the most valuable treasures a community can possess are the people who tirelessly devote themselves to improving the lives of others. And nobody embodies that more than fundraising stalwart Jeanette Fish, who has been instrumental in raising millions of pounds for cancer care in the town. Back in 1971, Jeanette founded the Doncaster Cancer Detection Trust with the aim of raising money to spend on equipment and expertise to prevent, detect, treat or cure cancer. Over the years the Trust has bought more than 75 pieces of front-line equipment for hospitals in the area and paid for six staff. But Jeanette’s lasting legacy will be the £2 million St John’s Hospice in Balby, built and kitted out entirely from funds raised by the Cancer Detection Trust. The hospice opened in 1992 after a seven-year fundraising campaign, and in 2004 the second phase of the building was opened after a further £1.4 million was raised - including £1 million from Free Press readers supporting our Millennium Million appeal. Jeanette’s status as one of Doncaster’s treasures was cemented in 2000, when she was one of just five people to be presented with the Honorary Freedom of the Borough by Doncaster Council to mark the millennium. She accepted the award with her usual modesty, saying: “I am very, very pleased that people thought well enough of me to nominate me - but the real credit must go to the people of Doncaster themselves. St John’s Hospice and everything there belongs to them.” Jeanette’s work with the St John’s Hospice Appeal has been acknowledged with several community awards, including the inaugural High Sheriff of South Yorkshire’s Award in 1992 and the title of Doncaster’s Woman of the Year for 2000. Ahe town remains close to her heart. As the hospice’s second phase opened, she said: “Doncaster is a very special place. People don’t appreciate it enough. People here just respond so beautifully when something is needed.”

 

This is an on-going project, and will grow as time goes on, so please call back