Stan Laurel  - Bishop Auckland

Stan Laurel  of the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy lived in the town during his childhood, attending the town's King James 1st Grammar School. His parents owned the now demolished Eden Theatre, which was located at the junction of Newgate Street and South Church Road.  In 2007, a Wetherspoons pub opened in the town named after Stan, and in August 2008, a statue of Stan Laurel was unveiled on the site that his parent's theatre once occupied