From Barack Obama to Jimmy Choo – the famous and their holiday hometowns

We think of them as tourist destinations but for a number of famous figures they are their places of birth. Some retreat to their hometowns to catch up with family and escape the spotlight while others left and never returned. Here’s a list of politicians and royals, celebrities and sports stars,and the holiday playgrounds from which they hail.

British actor John Cleese sought inspiration from his place of birth, Weston-Super-Mare, in Somerset, for Fawlty Towers, a television comedy about a dysfunctional hotel owner. The 1970s sitcom was set in the English seaside town of Torquay – coincidentally, the birthplace of the world’s bestselling novelist, Agatha Christie.

In 2011, Cleese described Weston as “a tedious little place” adding that he was mystified the Germans bothered to bomb it in 1940. The local tourist office is more upbeat, describing the resort as “steeped with Victorian history” and “dominated by a long stretch of glorious, sandy beach”.

Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal is a lot more complimentary about his place of birth. Currently ranked No 2 in the world, Nadal was born on the holiday isle of Mallorca and says he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. When he was a youngster, the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation urged Nadal to relocate to Barcelona to continue his training but his family rejected the idea and he stayed in Mallorca. In 2016, he opened a tennis academy in Manacor, Mallorca’s second city, saying he wanted to leave a legacy in his hometown.

The Balearic island sells itself successfully as a year-round destination and welcomed more than 10 million tourists in 2019. The bucket-and-spade brigade fill hotels in the high season while cyclists, hikers, golfers and culture vultures arrive at other times, drawn by more than 300 days of sunshine annually.