Waltham Forest's Famous Faces

Born out of wedlock, Maude Ethel Eades (later known as Madge Gill) was sent to an orphanage at age 9. At age 14, she was shipped to Canada with other orphans to do agricultural work. She found her way back to East London when she was 18, working in Whipps Cross hospital.

She married Thomas Edward Gill a few years later. After tragically losing a daughter during childbirth, Madge Gill retreated into solitary, spiritual practises, creating drawings and weavings of intense imaginative power. She’s now remembered as one of Britain’s most treasured outsider-artists.

One of England’s most famous exports, and among the most talented footballers of the modern age, David Beckham has represented teams from all over the world, including Manchester United, Real Madrid, and LA Galaxy. 

But he’s an East London boy at heart, and by birth. He was born at Waltham Forest's Whipps Cross hospital (a curious case of nominative determinism, considering that one of his major skills was whipping a cross into the 18-yard box during a game!).

The borough has a good record for footballers: former Tottenham Hotspur and England striker, Teddy Sheringham, was born in Highams Park, whilst current Tottenham Hotspur and England striker, Harry Kane, hails from Walthamstow!

While he might not quite be a household name, everyone in the world knows the work of Chingford native, Jonny Ive. He’s the man behind the iPod, having designed every generation of Apple’s world-beating music device up until 2019.

Working closely with Steve Jobs, Ive designed the now-iconic first-generation iPod by taking great influence from the “less is more” ethos of the Bauhaus. Ive studied at Newcastle Polytechnic in North East England before joining Apple in 1992, where he worked until 2019. He was knighted in 2012, and in 2004 was recognised as ‘The Most Influential Person on British Culture’ by a BBC poll.