Portsmouth Hall of Fame, Brunel to Cunliffe.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard was born at 1 Briton Street, Portsea, educated at Hove, near Brighton and studied for two years at the College Henri Quatre, Paris, after which, in 1823, he rejoined his father in England.
After his work on the Thames Tunnel, Isambard planned the Clifton Suspension Bridge, over the River Avon, which was completed posthumously in 1864 using chains from his own Hungerford Suspension Bridge.
He was responsible for the design of several famous ships including The Great Western, launched in 1837, was the first steamship ever to engage in transatlantic service.
The Great Britain, launched in 1843, was the world's first iron-hulled, screw propeller-driven, steam-powered passenger liner.
The Great Eastern, launched in 1859, was designed in cooperation with John Scott Russell, and was by far the biggest ship ever built up to that time.
Brunel was also responsible for the redesign and construction of many of Britain's major docks, including Bristol, Monkwearmouth, Cardiff and Milford Haven.
Brunel devised the combination of tubular, suspension and truss bridge to cross the Wye at Chepstow. This design was further improved in his famous bridge over the Tamar at Saltash near Plymouth. In 1859, shortly after the bridge's completion, Isambard died.
James Callaghan (Prime Minister)
Leonard James (Jim) Callaghan was born and brought up in poor circumstances in Portsmouth, the son of a naval chief petty officer of Irish descent. Leaving secondary school at 16, he became a tax clerk before serving in the Royal Navy.
When Harold Wilson resigned as Labour leader and prime minister in 1976, Jim Callaghan took over, beating Michael Foot in a ballot of MPs.
After losing the 1979 general election to Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives, he remained as Labour leader for another year, before handing over to Michael Foot.
Marilyn Cole
Born May 7th 1949 Portsmouth, Marilyn was Playboy magazine's January 1972 Playmate of the Month, as well as 1973s Playmate of the Year, the only Briton to hold that title.
For some time she was involved with Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry and appears on the cover of Roxy Music's album, Stranded.
In 1984, she married Victor Lownes, a Playboy executive and associate of Hugh Hefner owner of the Playboy business.
Houston Stewart Chamberlain
Born 9th September 1855 in Southsea.
His parents both died before he was a year old and he was brought up by his grandmother in France.
In 1899 he published The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century describing two master races - Jews and Germans - the Jews however are
described as a negative race standing between the Germans and their destiny of mastering the world.
It is thought that this work was used by Adolf Hitler as the basis of the Third Reich anti-semitic philosphy.
In 1908 he married Eva Wagner, the composer's daughter.
Chamberlain died in 1927.
Jeremiah Chubb (inventor of the Chubb lock mechanism)
The brothers Charles and Jeremiah Chubb were born in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, Charles in 1779 and Jeremiah in 1793.
Having been apprenticed as a blacksmith, Charles opened a buisness as a ships' ironmonger in Winchester before moving to Portsea in 1804.
In February 1818 Jeremiah Chubb patented the "detector lock".
Barry Cunliffe
Sir Barrington Windsor Cunliffe, CBE, born December 10th 1939 known as Barry Cunliffe, was Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1972 to 2007.
Barry attended Portsmouth Northern Grammar School and went on to read archaeology and anthropology at the University of Cambridge.
He made his name in the excavations at Fishbourne Roman Palace, but became an authority on the Iron Age through work on the Danebury hillfort.
Sir Barry Cunliffe has served on a variety of public bodies in the Archaeology sector, including the Ancient Monuments Board, the Museum of London, the British Museum, the Mary Rose Trust and the Council for British Archaeology. He has published numerous books on archaeology and also presented the Radio 4 programme, ‘Age to Age’. He was knighted in 2006.
