Ashfield is a local government district in western Nottinghamshire, England. According to the 2001 UK census, it has a population of 111,387. The district is mostly urban and contains parts of both the Nottingham Urban Area and the Mansfield Urban Area. The area has a tradition of coal mining. There are three towns in the district; the largest being Sutton-in-Ashfield. Settlements in the district include the following:

The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by the merger of urban districts of Hucknall, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, and Sutton-in-Ashfield and parts of Basford Rural District namely the parishes of Annesley, Felley and Selston.

In spring 1986, all departments, except for Direct Works, moved into purpose-built office accommodation in the centre of Kirkby-in-Ashfield. These offices provide civic accommodation for members, together with a Council Chamber and two Committee Rooms. District Offices have been maintained at Watnall Road, Hucknall, and Fox Street, Sutton-in-Ashfield, to cater for housing matters and cash receipts on a local basis.

John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He has won nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Prior to the release of his debut album, Stephens' career gained momentum through a series of successful collaborations with multiple established artists. Stephens added his voice to those of other artists, assisting in them reaching chart-topper hits. He lent his voice to Kanye West's All of the Lights, on Slum Village's "Selfish" and Dilated Peoples' "This Way". Other artists included Jay-Z's "Encore", and he sang backing vocals on Alicia Keys' 2003 song "You Don't Know My Name" and Fort Minor's "High Road." Stephens played piano on Lauryn Hill's "Everything Is Everything."

Stephens was born on December 28, 1978, in Springfield, Ohio. He is the son of Phyllis, a seamstress, and John Mills, a factory worker and former National Guardsman. Throughout his childhood, Stephens was homeschooled on and off by his mother. At the age of four, he began playing the piano and at the age of seven, he performed with his church choir. When he was ten, his parents divorced, causing his mother to suffer a breakdown. At the age of 12, Stephens attended North High School, from which he graduated four years later. He graduated salutatorian.

Stephen Ashfield (born 7 December 1979) is a British actor. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and since graduating from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and the Royal Academy of Music in London, he has enjoyed a successful stage career. In 2011 he was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.

Ashfield made his West End debut in 2002 as Boy George in Taboo, before playing the role of Basilio in the critically acclaimed Music Theatre London adaptation of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro at the Drill Hall, London.

In 2004, Ashfield returned to the role of Boy George for the first national tour of the award-winning musical Taboo. Subsequently, he appeared in the title role of Harry in the West End showcase of When Harry Met Barry, and created the leading role, George, in The Ha'penny Bridge at The Point, Dublin.

He was soon back in the West End as Nick Piazza in Fame, before appearing as John in the brand new musical Tomorrow Morning by Laurence Mark Wythe at London's New End Theatre. His passion for new musical theatre writing led him to create the role of Adam in Imagine This at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth.

Simon Armitage CBE (born 26 May 1963, Huddersfield) is a British poet, playwright, and novelist.

Simon Armitage was born in Marsden, West Yorkshire. Armitage first studied at Colne Valley High School, Linthwaite, Huddersfield and went on to study geography at Portsmouth Polytechnic. He was a post-graduate student at Manchester University where his MA thesis concerned the effects of television violence on young offenders. Until 1994 he worked as Probation Officer in Greater Manchester. He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters in 1996 from the University of Portsmouth. He then lectured on creative writing at the University of Leeds, the University of Iowa and the Manchester Metropolitan University. In February 2011 he took up the position as Professor of Poetry at the University of Sheffield.

He lives in West Yorkshire.

Armitage's poetry collections include Book of Matches (1993) and The Dead Sea Poems (1995). He has written two novels, Little Green Man (2001) and The White Stuff (2004), as well as All Points North (1998), a collection of essays on the north of England. He produced a dramatised version of Homer's Odyssey and a collection of poetry entitled Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus The Corduroy Kid (which was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize), both of which were published in July 2006. Many of Armitage's poems appear in the AQA (Assessment and Qualifications Alliance) GCSE syllabus for English Literature in the United Kingdom. These include "Homecoming", "November", "Kid", "Hitcher", and a selection of poems from Book of Matches, most notably of these "Mother any distance...". His writing is characterised by a dry Yorkshire wit combined with "an accessible, realist style and critical seriousness."