I . Frederick and Rosemary West
a married couple at the centre of one of the most famous and terrible criminal cases in Britain in the 20th century. Over a number of years they together murdered a number of young women and buried them in the garden and cellar of their house in Cromwell Street in Gloucester . The bodies were discovered in 1994 and the house became known as the ‘House of Horror’.
II . Mae West
(1892–1980)
a US actor who became a sex symbol in the 1930s and was famous for her humorous remarks suggesting sex. Her best-known line in films was ‘Why don’t you come up sometime ’n see me?’ which she said to Cary Grant in She Done Him Wrong (1933). Her other films include My Little Chickadee (1940) and Myra Breckinridge (1970).
III . Nathanael West
(1903–40)
a US author. His novels, which did not become well known until after his death, were strongly critical of American society. They include Miss Lonelyhearts and The Day of the Locust (1939), based on his experiences as a Hollywood writer. West was killed in a car crash.
IV . Rebecca West
(1892–1983)
an English writer and journalist. She wrote many novels, including The Thinking Reed (1936), The Fountain Overflows (1956) and The Birds Fall Down (1966), but is best remembered for the books she wrote as a result of her work as a journalist. These include The Meaning of Treason (1949), about the spies Burgess (II) and Maclean (II), and A Train of Powder (1955) about the Nuremberg trials. West had a long love affair with the writer H G Wells . She was made a dame (2) in 1959.