Clough Williams-Ellis

He was knighted in 1971 for his services "to architecture and the environment".

Designed and primarily responsible for construction of the town of Portmeirion in Wales. Portmeirion is best known as the location where the series The Prisoner (1967) was filmed, as well as parts of the series Danger Man (1960). Consequently, he was in both of these series as an extra.

He always intended that Portmeirion would be a tourist attraction. He coined the name from Merionethshire, one of the 13 historic counties of Wales. Many celebrities came to visit, including playwright George Bernard Shaw, novelist H G Wells, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and director Noel Coward (who wrote his play "Blithe Spirit" there in 1941, having left London to escape the Luftwaffe bombing).

Sir Clough Williams-Ellis married the writer Lady Mary Amabel Nassau Strachey (1894-1984), daughter of John St Loe Strachey, the editor of the British journal "The Spectator," and granddaughter of Baronet Sir Edward Strachey. Amabel was perhaps most famous for her "The Arabian Nights"; she also contributed to the science fiction and fantasy fields, as with editing "Strange Orbits: an Anthology of Science Fiction" (1976) and collections of folk tales and fairy tales.

Clough Williams-Ellis was born on May 28, 1883 in Gayton, Northamptonshire, England as Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis. He was married to Mary Amabel Nassau Williams-Ellis.