Cyril Frederick Danvers-Walker (1906-1990) .

Bob (as he was known in the Astons) Danvers-Walker was an radio and newsreel announcer best known as the off-screen voice of Pathe News newsreels during World War II, and for many years afterwards. His voice was described as "clear, fruity and rich, with just the suggestion of raffishness".

In retirement he lived at The Thatched Cottage in Aston Street (now Abbey Thorn Cottage) and was often called upon to open the annual church fete. In one of the pictures below you will see his famous personalised number plates RAD10 and TV1.

Born in England, he spent much of his childhood in Tasmania and began his radio career in Melbourne in 1925 before returning to the United Kingdom in 1932. From 1932 to 1939 Walker worked as a presenter for the International Broadcasting Company (IBC) network of commercial radio stations broadcasting in English to Britain from the continent. Danvers-Walker wanted to join the BBC as soon as the war started, but was prevented by a BBC rule against employing anyone who had worked on commercial radio. This rule was quietly dropped in 1943, and from then on he was deployed on a variety of morale-boosting wartime BBC radio shows.

He was the off-screen voice of the twice weekly Pathe News newsreel shown at all British cinemas, a job he held continuously from 1940 to 1970. The arrival of commercial television in the guise of ITV in 1955 brought new opportunities, such as being the announcer on Michael Miles' game show Take Your Pick (1955–68), and its successor programme, Wheel of Fortune (1969–71), while at the BBC Danvers-Walker was one of the regular presenters of Housewives' Choice throughout the 1950s.

John Edward Masefield (1878-1967).

He and his wife Constance and their two young children, Judith and Lewis, moved to Lollingdon Farm in June 1914. He was at that time already a well-respected writer and poet. He was Poet Laureate from 1930 until 1967. (Perhaps his best known poem is 'Sea Fever' - "I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by').

Lollingdon Farm is in the Parish of Cholsey but is very much considered part of our village ‘envelope’.

When the First World War began in 1914 Masefield was old enough to be exempted from military service, but he did carry out some military duties both in the UK and in France, and is listed on the village muster roll for the village in St.Michael’s Church.

It was at Lollingdon that he wrote his only war poem ‘August 1914’ which was provoked by his strong sense of foreboding just after Britain had declared war with Germany. It was also here that he wrote his famous book Gallipoli, and his series of poems and sonnets titled ‘Lollingdon Downs’.

The Masefields lived at Lollingdon for three years and finally moved to Boars Hill in Oxford during the spring of 1917. Even when they had settled at Boars Hill, John Masefield would regularly return to his beloved Berkshire Downs.

Patrick Abercrombie was a leading authority on national UK planning matters and garden-city initiatives, and is internationally recognised as a pioneer of town and country planning. He lived at the Red House on Moreton Road, Aston Upthorpe from 1945 until his death in 1957. 

He devised post-war reconstruction plans for London and its environs - the County of London Plan (1943) and the Greater London Regional Plan (1944) - commonly referred to as the Abercrombie Plan - which tackled such key problems as overcrowding and poor housing in deprived neighbourhoods, traffic congestion and the inadequate provision of open space.

Frank Cundell (1909-1993).

Successful Flat-National Hunt racehorse trainer, nephew of Leonard Cundell founder of the Cundell Stables, Aston Upthorpe. 

The stables were based originally at Chilton, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire) but in 1934 his land was compulsorily purchased by the Air Ministry for a new airfield (which post-war became the Atomic Research Establishment Harwell, now Harwell Science and Innovation Centre).

In 1934 therefore Leonard bought the Blewburton Hall estate, composed of eleven hundred acres of good land and buildings with the gallops on the Downs above the village. Frank assisted his uncle in the training of Noble Star (winner of both the Jockey Club Cup and the Cesarewitch Handicap in 1931) and himself trained Crudwell  - sired by Noble Star(winner of 50 races), Super Flash (Mackeson Gold Cup) and Celtic Cone (5 hurdle races and a Yorkshire Cup).

He trained over a thousand winners and was instrumental in persuading the young Dick Francis (see separate entry under Visitors) to ride some of his chasers and hurdlers. His wife Barbara became good friends with Francis’ wife Mary, and they at one time jointly owned a dress shop in Wallingford.

His entry in the online National Horseracing Museum says of him: “Frank Cundell was a kind and patient man, with a good sense of humour”.

Christine Lee (1938 - ).

Christine Lee is the sister of Jennifer Worth, author of Call the Midwife.  Like her sister, Christine also trained and practiced as a midwife, but later went on to a successful career as a sculptress.

In 1967 she and her husband bought Aston Tirrold Manor at auction for £13,500 (an unexpected bargain - the next day she was offered an extra £10,000 if she sold it on). She lived there until 1972.

Christine Lee became a best selling author in 2015 when her first book "The Midwife's Sister" was published. This memoir is about her life as a sculptor and her relationship with her sister Jennifer Worth. The book gives some interesting vignettes of Astons life in the late 1960's.

Many of her pieces are cast in bronze, with larger work constructed from sheet metal or wood. In 2014 her piece Compassion was placed in Exeter Cathedral. In 1996 Christine created the remarkable Commemorative Fountain outside the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford -upon-Avon for Shakespeare’s 800th Anniversary. It was unveiled by H.M. The Queen.