Claire just asked me to print off directions for her to get to John Rhodes Way in Tunstall. It's just off Reginald Mitchell Way, the A50 bypass named after the creator of the Spitfire. Mitchell was born and grew up in Stoke, although didn't really do anything useful until he left the area. That's good enough though.
Wikipedia lists several John Rhodes, including a mathematician, a racing driver, a September 11th victim and a UFO expert (who said Wikipedia isn't a real encyclopedia?). The driver is the closest option to being likely; he was at least born in the same county - at least he was back when Wolverhampton was in Staffordshire. His mostly raced minis and only grand prix was the 1965 British Grand Prix. He began in last place on the grid and did not finish. The connections to the area, and to fame, are tenuous at best, and I've now started to wonder whether he actually added the entry to Wikipedia himself...
So I must have the wrong guy here, making this probably the most useless blog post ever. Sorry. Really I'd hoped it was the UFO spotter but I'm thinking now it was probably a soldier awarded the Victoria Cross in World War I, but the only references I can find to him are the location of his grave and a rather bizarre list of why Stoke is apparently great.
However I genuinely did not know that I the place I live was also the birthplace of Meals On Wheels, and home to the composer of the theme tune from Neighbours. Fantastic.
