Darlington is a town in County Durham, England. It is where we have one of our easy storage facilities. It is a town with a lot of history. As well as the home of our storage facility, it was also the home of many famous actors, footballers, painters and other talented people.

However, Darlington is best known for its football team. The Darlington Football Club.

Let’s look at some of the famous people from Darlington, the town where we offer easy storage. Duncan Bannatyne from Dragons Den and Bannatyne Gyms lives in Darlington, and this is where the company office for the business is too. George Allison who was a football manager in the 1930s and footballer Garry Williamson Barnes are both from Darlington too. So are footballers Tom Craddock, Harry Dobinson, Neil Maddison, James Morrison, Giuseppe Wilson and cricketer David Varey.

You may remember Zoe Birkett, a runner-up from Pop Idol? She was from Darlington as well. As is Sandra Bowman the Olympic and Commonwealth Games swimmer from the 1980s and Geoffrey Waites the GB International swimmer that took part in the 200m Backstroke at the 1964 Olympics.

The children’s author Aidan Chambers and publisher of the Everyman’s Library series J M Dent are also from Darlington. Fashion Designer Giles Deacon also has strong links to our town. The stunning Victorian buildings across the town are the responsibility of Darlington architect George Gordon Hoskins.

As you will have seen from our previous blog post about things to do in Darlington, the town has very strong connections to the railway. This is not only shown in our history but in our famous people from the area too. These include the Locomotive Superintendent for the South Eastern Railway, James Ludworth. Edward Pease was the Quaker Industrial and railway pioneer. Meanwhile, Joseph Pease was also a Quaker industrialist and railway pioneer, as well as the first Quaker MP.

We also have a lot of actors from the town of our storage facility. These include John E Ewbank who was also a writer and comedian as well as an actor. Actress Ruth Gemmell is from Darlington too, as is actor Richard Hurndall. Actor and television producer Glenn Hugill is from Darlington, as is filmmaker Don Featherstone. Singer and actress Julie Rayne along with stage and film actress from the 1920s Mary Lawson are from Darlington too.

Poets Ian Hamilton and Ralph Hodgson are from this town. Michael Lee, the hard rock drummer from Little Angels. Thin Lizzy, The Cult and Page and Plant are also from Darlington.

Darlington is respected for its history, as well as its easy storage. For example, Elizabeth Esteve-Coll is the Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Not only is she from Darlington, but she is also the first woman to head a national arts institution. Katherine Routledge is from Darlington too. She is an archaeologist and an anthropologist. Katherine was the person that made the first scientific survey of Easter Island. Architectural historian, Sir John Summerson is from the home of our storage facility too.

We are known for our motoring in Darlington too. Not only can we offer a storage facility for cars or easy storage for car parts, but we are also the home of motoring journalist Paul Walton. Le Mans podium finisher and racing driver Jann Mardenborough is from Darlington. Racing driver Al Pease is from our town too. He is best known for being disqualified from the Canadian Grand Prix in 1969 for going too slow.

However, perhaps the best-known person to have come out of Darlington is comedian and author Vic Reeves. He grew up in Darlington as a teenager, when he was known as Jim Moir.

Many people don’t realise just how steeped in railway history Darlington is. For example, did you know that the world’s first steam-powered passenger train journey began in Darlington? This took place on 27th September 1825. The train moved at an average of 6mph. While the railway was originally intended to haul coal in horse-drawn carriages, this was changed by George Stephenson. 

He arranged for the track to be strengthened so that it could accommodate his new steam-driven engine. It was called Locomotion No. 1. It managed to pull up to 600 passengers on that first journey from Darlington.

In 2015, Darlington was selected as the 7th best place to live in the UK. This decision was made based on the low house prices and rental fees, low unemployment rates, mobile phone signal and high-speed internet. 

At the time of this report, house prices in Darlington were the second-lowest in the top ten places to live. They were just below South Lanarkshire at an average of £125,000. Rent in Darlington was low at this time with expected weekly rental costs of around £67! 

Don’t forget, if you are looking to move to Darlington, we offer a storage facility to store your goods before or after your move, or when you are redecorating or downsizing your home.

How many of these interesting facts did you know about Darlington?