Christopher Mark Sievey (25 August 1955 – 21 June 2010) was an English musician and comedian known for fronting the band The Freshies in the late 1970s and early 1980s and for his comic persona Frank Sidebottom from 1984 onwards.

Sievey, under the guise of Sidebottom, made regular appearances on North West television throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, even becoming a reporter for Granada Reports. More recently he had presented Frank Sidebottom's Proper Telly Show in B/W for the Manchester-based television station Channel M. Throughout his career, Sidebottom made appearances on radio stations such as Manchester's Piccadilly Radio and on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 5, alongside Mark and Lard.

Sievey died on Monday, 21 June 2010 after a short battle with cancer. Soon afterwards it was reported that Sievey had died penniless and would have a pauper's funeral. A campaign, backed by former collaborators including Jon Ronson, was set up to raise funds for the funeral and eventually raised £21,631.55 from 1,632 separate donations.

Iain Lee is a British comedian, and a television and radio presenter. His career began when he performed stand-up comedy gigs across venues in London. He subsequently became co-presenter of the comedy current affairs show The 11 O'Clock Show on Channel 4 and RI:SE. After three years at London talk radio station LBC 97.3, Lee resigned and, after two years presenting a Sunday night slot, hosted Iain Lee's 2 Hour Long Late Night Radio Show on Absolute Radio (formerly Virgin Radio) until mutually leaving the company on 17 October 2011.

Lee was born in Slough, Buckinghamshire, England and attended Herschel Grammar School.

Lee was the lead presenter on satirical comedy show The 11 O'Clock Show on Channel 4, alongside Mackenzie Crook and Daisy Donovan. The show also featured comedians Ali G and Ricky Gervais. He then went on to present the early morning Big Breakfast replacement on Channel 4, RI:SE, with Kate Lawler from Big Brother 2002. Lee presented a few other shows, including computer game show Thumb Bandits.

John Cooper Clarke (born 25 January 1949) is an English performance poet who first became famous during the punk rock era of the late 1970s when he became known as a "punk poet". He released several albums in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and continues to perform regularly.

His recorded output has mainly centred around musical backing from The Invisible Girls, which featured Martin Hannett, Pete Shelley, Bill Nelson, Paul Burgess and Steve Hopkins.

Clarke was born in Salford, Lancashire in 1949. His first job was a laboratory technician at the University of Salford. He began his performance career in Manchester folk clubs, where he began working with Rick Goldstraw and his band The Ferrets. His first releases were on the independent label Rabid, starting with the EP Innocents in October 1977. He toured with Bill Nelson's band Be-Bop Deluxe in 1978 and was signed by Epic Records, who issued the Nelson-produced debut album Disguise In Love in 1978. In 1979 he had his only UK top 40 hit with "Gimmix! (Play Loud)". Clarke toured with Linton Kwesi Johnson, and has performed on the same bill as bands such as Sex Pistols, The Fall, Joy Division, Buzzcocks, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Elvis Costello, Rockpile, and New Order (including at their May 1984 Music for Miners benefit concert at London's Royal Festival Hall). His set is characterised by lively, rapid-fire renditions of his poems, usually performed a cappella. Often referred to as "the bard of Salford", he usually refers to himself on stage as "Johnny Clarke, the name behind the hairstyle".

Gerry Anderson MBE (born 14 April 1929) is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation".

His first television production was the 1957 Roberta Leigh children's series The Adventures of Twizzle and it would be almost a decade before his most famous and successful production, Thunderbirds, would be produced. His production company, originally known as AP Films and later renamed Century 21 Productions, was originally formed with partners Arthur Provis (hence AP Films – Anderson Provis Films), Reg Hill, John Read.

He has also written and produced several feature films, although these did not perform as well as expected at the box office. Following a successful move towards live action productions in the 1970s, his long and highly successful association with Lew Grade's ITC (Incorporated Television Company) ended with the second series of Space: 1999. After a career lull when a number of new series concepts failed to get off the ground, his career began a new phase in the early 1980s when audience nostalgia for his earlier Supermarionation series (prompted by Saturday morning re-runs in the UK) led to new Anderson productions being commissioned. A number of new projects have resulted including a recent CGI remake of Captain Scarlet entitled Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet.