Got Talent finalist of 2009 Jeanette Winterson, author; Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is an account of her childhood in the town John Rex Whinfield, chemist, inventor of Terylene (polyester), the first completely synthetic fibre invented in UK John Virtue, artist Jon Anderson, singer with rock band Yes, was born in the town Jonathan Slinger, RADA trained actor Julie Hesmondhalgh, actor, Hayley Cropper in the TV Soap Coronation Street Mick O'Shea, author and scriptwriter Mike Duxbury, footballer, was born in the town Mystic Meg, astrologer, was born in the town as Margaret Anne Lake in 1942 Netherwood Hughes, World War I veteran, died in 2009, aged 108 Nicholas Freeston (1907-1978), Award-winning Lancashire poet Pauline Aitken, artist Paul Manning, undercover police officer and whistleblower Reece Bibby, member of Stereo Kicks and 2014 finalist of The X Factor (UK TV series). Now a member of the band New Hope Club Ron Hill, long-distance and marathon runner Thomas Birtwistle, trade unionist Vicky Entwistle, actor, Janice Battersby in the TV Soap Coronation Street William Macrorie bishop of Maritzburg Stephen Heys, footballer Val Robinson, footballer and field hockey player See also Listed buildings in Accrington Howard & Bullough References Further reading William Turner. Pals: the 11th (Service) Battalion (Accrington), East Lancashire Regiment. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword, 1998. External links Hyndburn Borough Council Towns in Lancashire Unparished areas in Lancashire Geography of Hyndburn English royal forests