History UsefulNotes / TheWestCountry

** John Levene, who played Sergeant Benton, was born and raised in Salisbury, Wiltshire. While he suppresses his West Country accent on the show, traces of it still come out, especially in his early appearances.

* Creator/SimonPegg, born in Brockworth, near Gloucester.

Gloucestershire has the Cotswolds running through it, and the villages, especially to the north of the county, have lots of picture perfect sandy coloured limestone cottages. Gloucestershire was also an important area in Roman times, and the town of Cirencester, or Corinium, as it was known at the time, was the second most important city in Roman Britain. To the west of the country, on the border with Wales, is the Forest of Dean, a former royal hunting Forest, who’s locals have a dialect only known to them and bit of an reputation with the rest of the county, possibly due to it being one of the most undeveloped parts of the county but one area called Puzzlewood was used for filming Film/StarWars and Series/Merlin2008. Wedged between these two parts is the River Severn, which almost splits the county in half, in an area known as the Severn Vale. Famous for the Severn Bore, a natural tidal wave phenomenon where too much water tries to get through too narrow a channel (Gloucestershire is where the river starts to widen out into the Severn Estuary, that then leads to the Bristol Channel, which, incidentally, used to be called the Severn Sea.) comes up through the river twice a month (Usually a couple of days after a new and full moon) and attracts people to try and surf it, until it peters out somewhere north of Gloucester. Due to the Severn having the second highest tidal range in the world, Gloucestershire is bizarrely classed as a coastal county by UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion, despite the fact that the only beach in the county is a man made one on a lake by Cirencester, which is a good twenty miles inland, and the Severn should definitely never be attempted to swam in that section due to it's dangerous tides and quick sand.

* Edward III was murdered at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, and is buried at Gloucester Cathedral.

* The Wurzels: Somerset band who make songs about cider, farming and the West Country in general, usually perform with a pint of cider in their hands. Popular amongst the West Country and also amongst university students for obvious reasons.

* Myth/KingArthur. He was a mythical Romano-British war leader (later described as a king) who may have come from Cornwall, given that he was half-Cornish on his mother's side and his story did begin here when Uther secretly bedded her to conceive him.
** Glastonbury in Somerset also try’s to lay some claim to the Arthurian legends. Locals like to believe that it is the Isle of Avalon as mentioned in the stories, and the monks of the Abbey claimed that they had found grave of Arthur and Guinevere 1194.

* Phil Harding from ''Series/TimeTeam'' who, despite being a highly accomplished and internationally renowned archaeologist, took a particular delight in cultivating a West Country yokel image with WildHair and [[CoolHat poacher's hat]].

* Gustav Holst, who composed ''The Planets'' was born and raised in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

* Olly Alexender, of ''Music/YearsAndYears'' was born in North Yorkshire, but grew up in Coleford, Gloucestershire.

* Jack Russell, former [[UsefulNotes/{{Cricket}}wicketkeeper]] for England was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire.

* William Tyndall, who was one of the first people to translate The Bible into English (And who got burnt at the stake for his trouble), was born in the small village of Stinchcombe, Gloucestershire.

* Former British #1 hammer throwers Lorraine Shaw and Zoe Derham are from Gloucester and Yate, South Gloucestershire, respectively.

* Robert Hardy, who played Siegfried in Series/AllCreaturesGreatAndSmall, among others, was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

* Creator/MaisieWilliams, best-known as Arya Stark on ''Series/GameOfThrones''.

* Former England Cricket captain Alastair Cook was born in Gloucester.

* Literature/DaphneDuMaurier was born in London, but lived most her life in Cornwall, and as a result, most of her books were set in the county, including Literature/{{Rebecca}}, Frenchmen's Creek, and Jamaica Inn

* Michael Praed, otherwise known as Robin of Loxley in ''Series/RobinOfSherwood'', was born in Berkeley, Gloucestershire. The series it's self was filmed in the Bristol area, and Wales.

* Former British #1 hammer throwers Zoe Derham is from Yate, Gloucestershire.

* The books ''Series/AgathaRaisin'' (Which is what the TV series is based on) is set in fictional village of Carsley in Northern Gloucestershire. Unlike the series however, the geography is mostly correct.

* Series/''{{Poldark}}'' books by Winston Graham are set in Cornwall.

* The ''Wycliffe'' by W.J Burley novels about a detective of the same name are set in Cornwall.

* ''Series/AgathaRaisin'' is meant to be set somewhere in North Gloucestershire, presumably by Moreton-in-the-Marsh or Bourton-in-the-Water. It’s a bit hard to tell, since the geography in the show is all over the place.

* ''Series/DocMartin'' is set in a small [[QuirkyTown fishing village]] somewhere in Cornwall.

* ''Wycliffe'', and mid nineties TV detective show that was based on the books of the same name by W.J Burley, was set and filmed in Cornwall.

!!Examples of famous/fictional people:

* Laurie Lee's "Cider With Rosie," is a semi autobiographic account about his childhood growing up in the small village of Slad, by Stroud, Gloucestershire.

* Creator/RobertEHoward's "somber puritan" Literature/SolomonKane came from Devon.

* Michael Praed, otherwise known as Robin of Loxley in ''Series/RobinOfSherwood'', was born in Berkeley, Gloucestershire.
* Creator/JamesPurefoy, who played Literature/SolomonKane, as well as Mark Antony in ''Series/{{Rome}}'', is a lad from Somerset.

* Josh Widdicombe from Series/TheLastLeg makes it another comedian -- he from Dartmoor in Devon.

* ''Series/{{Broadchurch}}'': The fictional titular town presumably meant to be in Dorset, with the real life towns of Bridport, Dorset, and Clevedon, Somerset used for filming.

* ''Series/TheCoroner'' is set in fictional small town of Lighthaven on the English Rivera in Devon.

* ''Series/FatherBrown'': Set in the fictional village of Kembleford, in the Northern Cotswolds of Gloucestershire.

** Dr Alice Roberts, who was also on ''Series/TimeTeam'', but who now present's Creator/TheBBC's archaeology show ''Digging For Britain,'' was born and brought up in Bristol.

* Creator/DavidMitchell is from Salisbury in Wiltshire.

* Footballer Gary Mabutt, who played for Tottenham Hotspurs, among others, was born in Bristol.

* Music/Coldplay's singer Chris Martin was born in Exeter, Devon, but the band was formed in London.

* Creator/StephenMerchant makes yet another comedian, co-writer of ''Series/TheOfficeUK'' and ''Series/{{Extras}}'' (with a small part in the first, and larger part in the second) and also voiced Wheatley in ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}''. He also brought an authentic West Country accent to ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' where he played Amy Farrah-Fowler's second boyfriend.

* Creator/BillBailey: Actor/comedian, and Series/StrictlyComeDancing champion, was born in Bath, Somerset.

* Lee Evans: [[OverlyLongGag One more comedian for you.]] Born in Avonmouth, Bristol. You can probably see a trend here....
* Russell Howard, along with his sister Kerry: [[OverlyLongGag Another two comedians!]]. Both born in Bristol.