Continuing last week’s item, with apologies to all famous people missing from this personal and not necessarily comprehensive forest compendium of Forest names and Forest places.

Mork: John Morgan, television broadcaster associated with ‘Tonight’, a BBC light hearted evening summary of the news, was a resident of the hamlet of Mork, just below St Briavels. He was a regular customer at the George pub at St Briavels, and could always be relied upon to provide scurrilous information about famous people.

Newnham: Dame Muriel Powell, the great nursing pioneer, originally from Ruspidge (see below), is commemorated at a plaque in Cinderford, and was for the last few years of her life a resident of Newnham.

Parkend: Ralph Anstis, the great Forest historian, wrote the novel ‘Let the Hero be the Hungry Man’, a story of the Forest miners’ struggle against greedy mine owners in the mid 19th century. He developed it into a play, performed appropriately at Parkend, with Winifred Foley in the audience. Ralph was a resident of Parkend before moving to Coalway and then back to London.

Pauntley: Dick Whittington walked from the village with his knapsack and his cat on his back to seek his fortune in London, and in spite of his initial rejection from the city stayed on to become Lord Mayor. Sadly, his memorial pub, the Dick Whittington pub in Gloucester recently closed,

Ruardean: Remembered for some anonymous French travellers and their bear, which you would be well advised not to mention in the area.

Ruspidge: Dame Muriel Powell from Ruspidge was a leading nursing personality, with the belief that nursing was intended for patients not for medical staff, a revolutionary idea in the early 20th century. She was the Chief Nursing Officer for Scotland before retiring to Newnham.

Severn River: Sabrina was the name given to the Severn River during the Roman occupation in the first few centuries AD. As well as the name for the river it was the name of a mythical Roman creature, half woman, half fish. The name ‘Sabrina’was borrowed by a minor celebrity in 1950s

St Briavels: An anonymous prisoner at St Briavels Castle cursed Robin Belcher, in a scrawl on the prison wall, for evidence that had condemned him.

Billy Midwinter from St Briavels Common, emigrated to Australia, played cricket for Australia in the first ever teat match in 1877, returned to England, and played for England against Australia in 1882, a unique achievement.

Tutshill: JK Rowling of Harry Potter fame, noted also for controversial political and social opinions, had her early life in Tutshill.

Brian Harris, who replaced the notorious Tony Kay (who was sacked for match fixing) as manager of Everton football club, was landlord of the Cross Keys pub, now sadly a pub no more.

Yorkley: Will Harvey, the bard of the Forest.

With apologies to all famous local names missing from this forest compendium.