Greaves, Amess and Newens added to biography book

The lives of prominent Essex people - including MP Sir David Amess, footballer Jimmy Greaves and Labour politician Stan Newens - are to be detailed in a long-running reference book of noteworthy British individuals.

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) is updated each year to reflect the lives of historical figures who have died in a certain period.

Those who died in 2021 and whose biographies are to be featured also include Prince Philip, actress Helen McCrory, drummer Charlie Watts and charity fundraiser Captain Sir Tom Moore.

The ODNB started in 2004, but the original Dictionary of National Biography was first published in 1885 and featured thousands of notable people.

Other Essex names among the 238 being added are writer, actress and former model Clare Dunkel and Conservative MP James Brokenshire, who was born in Rochford.

In total, more than 5,000 people with Essex connections feature in the dictionary.

Sir David, who was fatally stabbed at his constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea in October 2021, was the the Conservative MP for Basildon from 1983 to 1997 and Southend West from 1997 until his death.

Greaves, who still holds the record for the most goals scored in top-flight English football, played as a striker for Chelsea, AC Milan, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham over the course of his career.

He later became a newspaper columnist and television personality and died at his home in Little Baddow, Essex, in September 2021.

Another of the Essex figures, Stan Newens, was the Labour MP for Epping from 1964 to 1970 and later served as an MEP.

His family moved to Epping when he was a child following the outbreak of World War Two.

Clare Dunkel, who used the pen name Mo Hayder for her numerous successful crime and thriller novels, starred in Are You Being Served? in her younger years and grew up in Loughton.

The latest edition of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography includes biographies of more than 63,000 individuals.

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