It's the web of interest

Well, the answer is Henry Hopwood, Thomas McCarte and Vernon Kay. They are just three of more than 450 names on a website devoted to famous Boltonians.

Hopwood founded the Australian town in 1814, McCarte became the lion's lunch in 1872 and Vernon Kay is the former model whose face is becoming increasingly familiar on the box.

The site www.boltonians.org.uk is the brainchild of Brian Mills, a designer and researcher from Bromley Cross who originally started compiling the material for a book in the 1980s.

Mr Mills, aged 49, a former lecturer at Bolton Community College, said: "I do design work but I've always had an interest in local history.

"I got the idea to write a book about famous Boltonians about 20 years ago. This was way before the Internet, so I did all my research at libraries trawling through their file indexes.

"Unfortunately nothing came of it because I didn't have the money to publish it, but I kept all the material in a file.

"Three years ago, I was doing some design work for the Bolton Network community information service. They wanted to try out a database on-line and asked me if I had anything suitable. I immediately thought of the big file I had at home full of my notes on famous Boltonians.

"It took quite a while to transfer all the information you could say it's been a bit of a labour of love because I don't get paid for any of it. I started with about 159 names and it keeps growing.

"There are more than 450 of them listed so far, including a worrying number of TV soap actors, a dynasty of executioners, a Nobel prize winner and a transported convict who founded a town in Australia."

The site has been partly funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

Mr Mills said: "It's a bit of a benevolent dictatorship because I decide who goes on it, but there is a feedback form so people can contact me and let me know if there's someone they think should be on it.

"Basically, if you were born or brought up in Bolton and have done something remotely interesting there's a chance you'll be on it.

"Several people have actually contacted me to get themselves on it. I get emails from people around the world. Most of them tend to be from ex-pats who used to live in Bolton and are interested in the local history.

"And no, I haven't put myself on it."

Here are some of the famous some well-known and others not so well-known who have made it onto the website. Apart from Peter Kay, Vernon Kay and the plethora of current and former soap stars including Sammy Winward and Amy Nuttall, famous Boltonians include:

Lord Leverhulme, an industrialist who founded the Unilever empire as well as being a philanthropist and generous benefactor to Bolton. He was Mayor of Bolton from 1918 to 1919. He was made Freeman of the County Borough of Bolton on November 10, 1902.

Nat Lofthouse, footballer for Bolton Wanderers who won 33 caps for England. He played for Wanderers as centre forward and captain from 1950 to 1958. He became known as the Lion of Vienna for his courageous and robust winning goal to seal England's 3-2 victory over Austria in 1952.

Jim Cartwright, an actor and playwright who was born on June 27, 1958, in Farnworth. He wrote "Road" and "The Rise and Fall of Little Voice".

Monica Ali, a novellist, this former Bolton School pupil's family left East Pakistan in 1971 during the civil war that eventually gave birth to Bangladesh. She wrote debut novel "Brick Lane" which was among runners up for the 2003 Booker Prize.

Amir Khan, acclaimed boxer from Heaton who won a silver medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics at the age of 17 and is now a professional.

Fred Dibnah, MBE, a steeplejack, broadcaster and industrial historian, famous for knocking down factory chimneys and having an immovable flat cap. He began his TV career as the subject of a 1979 documentary series about his work as a steeplejack ironically demolishing much of the Victorian industrial architecture that he passionately admired.

Frank Finlay, a film and TV actor, and former pupil at St Gregory the Great School in Farnworth. He starred in "Casanova" and "Bouquet of Barbed Wire", having begun his career at Farnworth Little Theatre. He was spotted by Laurence Olivier while at RADA.

Sir Ian McKellen, film and TV actor and gay rights campaigner who was born in Burnley but attended Bolton School, where he was Head Boy. He is a major Shakespearean actor and a star of the "The Lord of the Rings" and "X-Men" films. Also appeared in Coronation Street.

Patrick Caulfield, CBE, a London-born painter whose parents were from Bolton, he was evacuated to Bolton to live with an aunt during the Second World War. He was a major figure in English post-war art. Made a Member of Royal Academy in 1993.

Roy Lancaster, a botanist, gardener and broadcaster, trained in Bolton parks and gardens and worked at Cambridge University Botanic Gardens. He was awarded an OBE in 1999 and is a regular on Gardeners' Question Time.

Tommy Lawton, a footballer who won 23 caps for England. He played for Bolton Town and Lancashire County Schoolboys from 1932 to 34. He played professionally for Burnley 1935-36, Everton 1937-39, Chelsea 1945-47, Notts County 1947-52, Brentford 1952-53, Arsenal 1953-56.

Henry Hopwood, Australian Pioneer, born in Bolton in 1814. Transported to Australia in 1834 for stealing silk but became a policeman. He founded the town of Echuca in Victoria in 1853.

Danny Jones, singer songwriter in boy band McFly, one of the biggest groups in Britain today.

Thomas McCarte, animal trainer, killed and eaten by a lion in a circus in Bolton on January 3, 1872.

Sir Harold Kroto, Nobel Prize winner and chemist, joint winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1996 for discovery of Fullerenes previously unknown forms of carbon.

Sir Arthur Henry Rostron, Mariner-Commodore, Captain of the Carpathia, the ship which rescued survivors of the Titanic disaster.

William Frederick Tillotson, founder of the Bolton Evening News on March 19, 1867, and the Bolton Journal in 1871, plus several other local newspapers. He falso ormed Tillotson's Fiction Bureau in 1871 (The Tillotson's Newspaper Literature Syndicate) to publish stories by authors such as Willkie Collins, Thomas Hardy, Rider Haggard and Frances Hodgson Burnett for the Bolton Journal and others.

Samuel Crompton, inventor of the Spinning Mule, which arguably kick-started the Industrial Revolution. He lived at Hall i'th' Wood while working on the design for the Mule. He subsidised his activities by playing a violin, which he made himself, for money. Spectacularly unlucky in his business and financial dealings, he died in relative poverty.

Sir Richard Arkwright, engineer and industrialist, inventor of the Water Frame, was knighted in 1786. He was a wig maker and barber in Churchgate, Bolton, pre-1755 and was also landlord of the "Black Boy" pub in Bolton.

Nigel Short, a chess grandmaster who was born in Leigh and attended Bolton School. He became the world's youngest International Chess Master in 1981 and wrote a chess column for The Daily Telegraph.

Robert Shaw, film actor and author. His films included "From Russia With Love", "A Man For All Seasons", "The Sting" and, most famous of all, "Jaws" he was eaten by the shark. Also starred as Captain Dan Tempest in "The Buccaneers" TV series 1956-57. He won the 1961 Hawthornden Prize for the novel "The Sun Doctor" and also wrote "The Man In The Glass Booth". The Robert Shaw pub in his home town, Westhoughton, is named after him.