By Martin Brisland.
In the latest in our series of fun facts about Southampton we look at some more little known gems about the city.
Celebrities connected to Southampton
The celebrity couple of the 1950s were Lord and Lady Docker – they would have been naturals for today’s reality television shows, such as I’m a Celebrity.
Bernard Docker and his wife, dubbed by the press as Naughty Nora, lit the 1950s with laughter and glamour. She came from humble beginnings and had two rich husbands before Bernard, including the former chair of Fortnum and Mason.
They had five specially built gold-plated Daimler cars with zebra skin upholstery and ivory inlay. The mascot on the bonnet was modelled on her naked body. Their yacht, Shemara, cost £800,000 at a time when a £550 was an average yearly wage. Shemara was built at the Thornycroft yard in Woolston in 1938. She was restored locally to super yacht status in 2014.
They owned a 3,000-acre Hampshire estate near Stockbridge.
Wealthy Sir Bernard Docker was chairman and managing director of the then mighty Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) company. The Dockers flaunted their wealth. Britain, living through post war austerity, loved them for it.
Fiona Richmond (born in1945) was a glamour model in the 1970s. Her husband was the late Southern TV presenter, James Montgomery. Her Bamboo Jungle shop was on the corner of Onslow Road and Bellevue Terrace.
Film director Ken Russell grew up in Southampton and once lived at 31, Belmont Road in Portswood. His most popular film was Women in Love (1969), for which Glenda Jackson won an Oscar. He also directed The Devils (1971) and Tommy (1975). In later years he moved to East Boldre in the New Forest. He often dined at Piccolo Mondo restaurant in Southampton.
Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be executed in the UK, in July 1955, for the murder of her lover David Blakely.
Under the law as it stands today, she would be treated differently as she had suffered violent abuse. In 1951 she lived in Warsash, near Southampton, with her dentist husband, Mr. Ellis.
John Arlott became a much-loved cricket commentator. He was a Southampton policeman from 1934 to 1946. There is a blue plaque on a house in Lodge Road where he once lived.
Craig David, born in 1981, grew up on the Holyrood Estate area in Southampton. He has had a successful music and DJ career, has sold over fifteen million records, and currently advertises Just Eat.
Actress and celebrity, Diana Dors (1931-1984), had investment properties in Shirley Road, Archers Road, and Dornan House on The Avenue. In 1958 Diana opened the Southern Television Studios at Northam. In 1980 she opened an art exhibition at Southampton College of Art and Design. She also had her own local television series, Open Dors.
Rishi Sunak was born in Southampton in 1980. He was Prime Minister from 2022-2024. His mother ran the Sunak Pharmacy on the junction of Hill Lane and Burgess Road. His father was a GP at a practice in Raymond Road, Shirley.
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