2004 in the United Kingdom

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister – Tony Blair
• Parliament – 53rd

  Events

January

• 1 January – Papers released under the Thirty Year Rule reveal that, contrary to what was believed at the time, Princess Margaret would not have lost her title nor Civil List payments had she married Group Captain Peter Townsend, a divorced War hero, in the 1950s.
• 3 January – The BBC cancels the appearance of Coca-Cola sponsorship credits in the music charts on its BBC One Top of the Pops show, after criticism from politicians and health campaigners that it would be promoting junk food and unhealthy drink products to teenagers.
• 6 January
• * The coroner's inquest into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and her lover Dodi Al-Fayed is officially opened.
• * The Daily Mirror publishes the blacked out portion of a letter wherein Diana, Princess of Wales alleged that someone was trying to kill her.
• 7 January – It is announced that a record of nearly 2,600,000 new cars were sold in the United Kingdom during 2003.
• 8 January – The Queen Mary 2 is christened by Elizabeth II.
• 13 January
• * Robin Cook says that the British Museum's Parthenon Marbles must be returned to Greece.
• * 57-year-old Serial killer Dr. Harold Shipman is found dead in his cell one day prior to his fifty-eighth birthday; suicide is suspected.
• * The Bichard Inquiry into events preceding the Soham murders formally opens.
• 14 January – A 45-year-old Sudanese man travelling from Washington Dulles International Airport to Dubai Airport is arrested en route at London's Heathrow Airport on suspicion of carrying five bullets in his coat pocket.
• 19 January – The English Court of Appeal calls for an end to the prosecution of parents whose babies may have died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in cases where the only evidence is contended expert testimony.
• 21 January – The Secretary of State for Defence publishes a White paper Delivering Security in a Changing World, detailing wide-ranging reform of the country's armed forces.
• 27 January – The vote of Scottish Labour MPs, whose constituents were unaffected by the legislation, help Prime Minister Tony Blair narrowly defeat a rebellion in his own party over the Higher Education Bill – a highly controversial bill to reform higher education funding in England, including the introduction of increased and variable tuition fees – in the House of Commons by 316 votes to 311.
• 28 January – The Hutton Inquiry into the circumstances of the death of Dr. David Kelly is published. This is taken by most of the press to strongly condemn the BBC's handling of the David Kelly affair and to exonerate the government; the BBC's Director-General, Greg Dyke, Chairman of the Board of Governors, Gavyn Davies, and the journalist at the centre of the controversy, Andrew Gilligan, resign. The UK media, in general, condemns the report as a whitewash.

  February

• 1 February – Media sources and victim support groups across Britain condemn the £11,000 payouts to the families of the two girls who were murdered at Soham in August 2002 as a "pittance". The compensation was paid out by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.
• 3 February – Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announces an independent inquiry, to be chaired by Lord Butler, to examine the reliability of intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
• 5 February/6 February – A party of Chinese cockle pickers is caught by the tides at night in Morecambe Bay, Lancashire, drowning 23 people. 21 bodies are recovered.
• 6 February – The Home Office confirms that Maxine Carr, convicted with Ian Huntley concerning the Soham murders of August 2002, could be released from prison in the next few days.
• 11 February – Richard Desmond, the owner of the Daily Express and Daily Star tabloids, confirms that he has made a bid for the troubled Daily Telegraph.
• 15 February – The government are reported to have drawn up plans to break up the BBC in the wake of the Hutton inquiry.
• 19 February – Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announces that five of the nine Britons held without trial as terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba, along with a Danish national, are to be released.
• 21 February – Prime Minister Tony Blair comes under pressure from British human rights groups and MPs because of the government's sweeping powers under the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act, which have allowed the detention of fourteen foreign terrorist suspects in the UK at what has been described as "Britain's Guantanamo Bay".
• 24 February – The British Olympic Association bans European 100 metres champion Dwain Chambers from competing in the Olympic Games for life for a positive test for the designer steroid THG.
• 25 February – Katharine Gun, formerly an employee of British spy agency GCHQ, has a charge of breaching the Official Secrets Act dropped after prosecutors offered no evidence, apparently on the advice of the Attorney General for England and Wales. Gun had admitted leaking American plans to bug UN delegates to a newspaper.
• 26 February – Clare Short, former Cabinet Minister, alleges on the BBC Today radio programme that British spies regularly intercept U.N communications, including those of Kofi Annan, the U.N Secretary-General.
• 29 February – Middlesbrough F.C. wins their first trophy in their 128-year history by defeating Bolton Wanderers F.C. in the Football League Cup Final.

  March

• Vauxhall launches the fifth generation of its popular Astra family hatchback. It is initially just available as a five-door hatchback, with a three-door "Sporthatch" and a five-door estate due later that year.
• 11 March – Support for the Conservatives and Labour is equal at 35% for the second time in nine months, raising the sceptre of a hung parliament at the next general election which is expected within a year.
• 16 March – Fifteen-year-old Scottish boy Kriss Donald is abducted, tortured and murdered by Pakistani gang in racially motivated attack in Glasgow.
• 21 March – Architect Zaha Hadid becomes the first female recipient of the Pritzker Prize.

  April

• 19 April – Tony Blair announces a change in government policy: there is to be a referendum on the proposed EU Constitution.
• 28 April – Landmark office building 30 St Mary Axe in the City of London, designed by Norman Foster, opens.

  May

• 10 May – Maxine Carr is released from prison with a new identity after serving half of her sentence for perverting the course of justice.
• 11 May – Stockline Plastics factory explosion: four people die in an explosion at a factory in Glasgow.
• 14 May – Piers Morgan is dismissed as editor of the Daily Mirror after the newspaper published fake pictures of Iraqi prisoner abuse.
• 15 May- Arsenal FC are the first team in history to win a Premier League season unbeaten. They are also the first team to win a top flight title unbeaten since Preston North End in 1889.
• 19 May – Fathers 4 Justice stage a protest in the House of Commons at Prime Minister's Question Time by throwing purple powder at Tony Blair.
• 22 May – Manchester United beat Millwall 3–0 in the FA Cup final.
• 27 May – The MP for Leicester South, Jim Marshall dies, triggering a by-election.

  June

• 2 June – José Mourinho, the Portuguese coach who led FC Porto to the UEFA Champions League title on 26 May, is named as the new manager of Chelsea F.C. on a three-year contract.
• 6 June – Sixtieth anniversary of D-Day. Last minute pressure forces First Minister of Scotland Jack McConnell to attend commemorations. Rhodri Morgan, the First Minister of Wales takes flak for not doing the same.
• 10 June
• * European, local and regional elections take place. Labour lose many council seats.
• * A rebranding of the Football League sees Division One become the Football League Championship, Division Two become League One and Division Three become League Two.
• 11 June – The incumbent Ken Livingstone is announced as the winner of the election for Mayor of London.
• 14 June – Results of the 2004 European elections are announced. United Kingdom Independence Party are the main gainers, increasing from 3 to 12 MEPs.
• 16 June – Liverpool F.C. appoint the Spaniard Rafael Benítez as their new manager.
• 21 June – The Football League club Wimbledon, who relocated to Milton Keynes from South London last autumn, are renamed Milton Keynes Dons to reflect their new location.
• 24 June – England are knocked out of UEFA Euro 2004 in the quarter-finals by host nation Portugal on penalties, following a 2–2 draw after extra time in Lisbon.

  July

• 2 July
• * An openly gay cleric, Jeffrey John is installed as the Dean of St Albans.
• * A court rules that Humberside Police Authority must suspend the Chief Constable, David Westwood, in accordance with the Home Secretary 's demands.
• 6 July – The Queen unveils a memorial fountain to Diana, Princess of Wales.
• 8 July – Marks and Spencer overheads turn down a takeover bid by retail tycoon Philip Green.
• 12 July – Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown announces the massive loss of 100,000 civil service jobs in the UK; the savings to be put into frontline services such as Health and Education.
• 13 July
• * The Public Administration Committee of the House of Commons recommends massive changes to the British Honours System including scrapping knighthoods and renaming the Order of the British Empire to the "Order of British Excellence".
• * The Countryside Agency publicises a new Countryside Code in advance of the "Right to Roam" coming into effect in September across England and Wales.
• * The House of Lords makes a hostile amendment to the Constitutional Reform Bill that would retain the name of the office of Lord Chancellor.
• 14 July – The Butler Inquiry releases its report, mildly criticising the government in their use of intelligence relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.
• 15 July – Leicester South and Birmingham Hodge Hill by-elections held. The Hodge Hill by-election is won by Labour, but the party loses the Leicester South seat to 37-year-old Liberal Democrat Parmjit Singh Gill, an Indian Sikh who is the party's first ethnic minority MP.
• 18 July – North Yorkshire police launch a murder hunt after 27-year-old twin sisters Claire and Diane Sanderson are found dead in a flat in Camblesforth, near Selby.
• 19 July – The Government announces backing for the Crossrail project.
• 20 July – Government to publish results of review into Council Tax in England.
• 23 July – Tony Blair announces that Peter Mandelson is to become Britain's new European Commissioner.

  August

• 1 August – The University of Surrey Roehampton becomes Roehampton University.
• 9 August – West Bromwich Albion F.C. terminate the contract of striker Lee Hughes as he is sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving, having killed a 56-year-old man in a collision near Coventry on 22 November 2003.
• 13–29 August – Great Britain participates in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens winning a total of 9 gold, 9 silver and 12 bronze medals.
• 16 August – Boscastle flood of 2004: flash floods destroy buildings and wash cars out to sea in Cornwall.
• 28 August – Kelly Holmes wins her second gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

  September

• 13 September – A Fathers 4 Justice campaigner dressed as Batman breaches security at Buckingham Palace.
• 15 September – Parliament is suspended after pro-hunt campaigners break into the House of Commons.

  October

• 1 October – Tony Blair announces his intention to resign as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom if Labour win the next general election, so he will not have to stand for a possible fourth term in the position.
• 7 October – British hostage Ken Bigley, of Liverpool, is beheaded by militants in Iraq.
• 9 October – Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh, designed by Enric Miralles, is opened.
• 19 October – British aid worker Margaret Hassan is taken hostage in Iraq.
• 26 October – Selby Coalfield production ceases.

  November

• 4 November – A referendum is held in North East England on the establishment of elected regional assemblies. The majority of voters said "no" to the plans.
• 6 November – Ufton Nervet rail crash: Seven people are killed when a train is derailed by a car deliberately left on a level crossing in Berkshire.
• 15 November – Children Act clarifies most official responsibilities for children, notably bringing all local government functions for children's welfare and education under the authority of local Directors of Children's Services.
• 16 November
• * The government announces plans to prohibit smoking in most enclosed public places within the next three years.
• * It is reported that Margaret Hassan is dead after her family receive a video recording supposedly showing her being killed.
• 18 November – Parliament passes the Hunting Act 2004 banning fox hunting in England and Wales.
• 20 November – Launch of the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission, a joint United States, UK and Italian-developed spacecraft, designed to study gamma-ray bursts.
• 28 November – Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff is opened.

  December

• Ford launches the second generation of its best-selling Focus family car that was originally launched in September 1998.
• 2 December – David Bieber, a 38-year-old former United States marine, is found guilty of murdering PC Ian Broadhurst in Leeds on Boxing Day last year. He is sentenced to life imprisonment, and the trial judge recommends that he should never be released from prison. After his conviction, it is revealed that Bieber was wanted in connection with a 1995 murder in Florida. It is also revealed that he had entered the UK by using the alias Nathan Wayne Coleman – who was discovered to be a child that had died in infancy in 1968.
• 14 December – Millau Viaduct in France, designed by British architect Norman Foster, is opened.
• 15 December – David Blunkett resigns as Home Secretary after three-and-a-half years in the role.
• 20 December – Northern Bank robbery in Belfast, £26,500,000 is stolen.
• 26 December – Several 150 British people are among thousands of people killed by the devastated 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in across the South and Southeast Asia during a Christmas holiday and Boxing Day celebration. The victims are killed in 14 countries, such as India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand are being severely affected.

  Publications

• Iain M. Banks' novel The Algebraist.
• Louis de Bernières' novel Birds Without Wings.
• Susannah Clarke's novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
• Alan Hollinghurst's novel The Line of Beauty.
• Andrea Levy's novel Small Island
• David Mitchell's novel Cloud Atlas
• Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels A Hat Full of Sky and Going Postal.
• The Liberal Democrat tract edited by Paul Marshall and David Laws.

  Births

• 8 February – Hannah Moncur, Scottish actress
• 19 February – Millie Bobby Brown, actress and model
• 8 March – Kit Connor, actor
• 25 September – Prince Odysseas-Kimon of Greece and Denmark
• 9 November – Mohammad Sahil Saeed, kidnap victim
• 19 December – Joel Joshy, student
• 21 December – Estella Taylor, daughter of Lady Helen Taylor

  Full date unknown

• Jack Henderson, artist
• Sam Taylor Buck, English actor

  Deaths

January

• 3 January – Lillian Beckwith, writer
• 4 January
• *Joan Aiken, writer
• *Brian Gibson, film director
• *Jeff Nuttall, actor, poet, and painter
• 5 January – Norman Heatley, biologist and biochemist
• 6 January
• * John Evans, footballer
• * Reg Smith, footballer and football manager
• 11 January – Mervyn Pike, Baroness Pike, politician
• 13 January
• *Tom Hurndall, political activist
• *Harold Shipman, serial killer
• 21 January
• *Kenneth Hubbard, RAF pilot
• *John T. Lewis, Welsh physicist
• 26 January
• *Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, artist
• *Hugh Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Putney, politician
• 27 January
• *Rikki Fulton, comedian and actor
• *Hugh Scanlon, trade union leader
• 29 January
• *M. M. Kaye, writer
• *James Saunders, playwright
• 30 January – George Bennions, Battle of Britain Spitfire pilot

  February

• 1 February –
• *Ally MacLeod, former manager of the Scotland national football team
• *Bob Stokoe, former footballer and football manager
• 2 February – Alan Bullock, Baron Bullock, historian
• 4 February – William MacQuitty, film producer
• 5 February
• *Nicholas Evans, artist
• *Frances Partridge, writer and last surviving member of the Bloomsbury Group
• 6 February – Humphry Osmond, psychiatrist
• 7 February – Norman Thelwell, cartoonist
• 12 February – Martin Booth, poet
• 13 February – Peter Gellhorn, pianist and conductor
• 18 February – Ivor Stanbrook, politician and barrister
• 20 February
• *Fred Brown, virologist
• *Ted Paige, physicist
• 22 February – Colin Eaborn, molecular biologist
• 23 February – Neil Ardley, jazz composer

  March

• 4 March
• *John McGeoch, rock guitarist
• *Sir Malcolm Pasley, literary scholar
• 6 March – Sandy Glen, explorer
• 8 March
• *Keith Hopkins, sociologist and historian
• *Robin Hunter, actor
• 9 March – Tony Lee, jazz pianist
• 10 March – David Shoenberg, physicist
• 13 March – Sydney Carter, poet and songwriter
• 15 March – John Pople, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 18 March – Richard Marner, actor
• 19 March – Ted Walker, poet and dramatist
• 22 March – David Oates, archaeologist
• 27 March
• *Lionel Sackville-West, 6th Baron Sackville, peer and stockbroker
• *Larry Trask, professor of linguistics
• 28 March – Sir Peter Ustinov, actor, writer, dramatist and raconteur
• 30 March
• *Alistair Cooke, broadcaster and writer
• *Hubert Gregg, actor and television producer
• 31 March – John Paul, colonial administrator

  April

• 1 April
• *Paul Atkinson, rock guitarist
• *Arthur Halestrap, one of the last surviving British soldiers of World War I
• 4 April – Alwyn Williams, geologist
• 7 April – Robert Sangster, racehorse owner
• 8 April – Adrian Beers, double bass player
• 10 April – Ben Pimlott, historian
• 13 April – Caron Keating, television presenter
• 14 April
• *Micheline Charest, television producer
• *Robin Popplestone, computer scientist
• 17 April – Geraint Howells, politician
• 19 April
• *Philip Locke, actor
• *John Maynard Smith, biologist and geneticist
• *Norris McWhirter, political activist and television presenter, twin brother of Ross McWhirter
• *Ronnie Simpson, footballer and football manager
• 20 April – Ian Robinson, publisher
• 23 April – Len Vale-Onslow, motorcycle manufacturer
• 24 April
• *Brian Manning, historian
• *Robert McBain, actor and photographer
• 25 April – Thom Gunn, poet
• 29 April – John Henniker-Major, 8th Baron Henniker, politician and diplomat
• 30 April – Jeffrey Alan Gray, psychiatrist

  May

• 3 May
• *Anthony Ainley, actor
• *Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire, peer
• 4 May – Erik Smith, record producer
• 5 May – John Cornforth, architectural historian
• 7 May – Douglas John Foskett, librarian
• 9 May – Percy M. Young, composer and musicologist
• 10 May – Dennis Wilshaw, footballer
• 11 May – Danny McLennan, footballer and coach
• 14 May
• *Anna Lee, actress
• *Shaun Sutton, television executive
• 15 May – Clint Warwick, bassist
• 16 May – Peter Hill-Norton, Baron Hill-Norton, Admiral of the Fleet
• 20 May – Len Murray, Baron Murray of Epping Forest, trade union leader
• 23 May
• *Sally Gilmour, ballerina
• *Adele Leigh, opera singer
• 27 May
• *Jim Marshall, politician
• *Ronald Smith, pianist
• 29 May – Jack Rosenthal, playwright

  June

• 3 June – Frances Shand Kydd, mother of Diana, Princess of Wales and grandmother of Princes William and Harry
• 5 June – Iona Brown, violinist and conductor
• 6 June – Judy Campbell, actress
• 7 June – Don Potter, sculptor and potter
• 12 June
• *Stanley O'Toole, film producer
• *Geoffrey Thompson, businessman
• 13 June – Stuart Hampshire, philosopher
• 15 June – J. Gwyn Griffiths, poet and Egyptologist
• 18 June – Frederick Jaeger, actor
• 19 June – Colin McCormack, actor
• 23 June – Doris Thompson, businesswoman, owner of Blackpool Pleasure Beach
• 26 June – Muriel Angelus, actress
• 27 June – Hugh B. Cave, science fiction writer
• 28 June – Anthony Buckeridge, writer

  July

• 1 July
• *Peter Barnes, playwright and screenwriter
• *Richard May, judge
• 3 July – John Barron, actor
• 5 July – Robert Burchfield, lexicographer
• 6 July – Peter Birks, academic lawyer
• 14 July – Arnold Ziff, businessman and philanthropist
• 16 July – Frank Farmer, physicist
• 17 July – Pat Roach, wrestler and actor
• 18 July – Paul Foot, journalist and nephew of former Labour Party leader Michael Foot
• 21 July – Julian Ridsdale, politician
• 23 July – Alan Cook, physicist
• 28 July
• *Francis Crick, scientist, discoverer of the structure of DNA
• *Margo McLennan, actress

  August

• 1 August – Laurence Stark, World War II flying ace
• 4 August – Robert Yewdall Jennings, judge
• 7 August
• *Colin Bibby, ornithologist
• *Bernard Levin, writer and journalist
• *Gordon Smith, footballer
• 12 August
• *Sir Godfrey Hounsfield, electrical engineer and inventor, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• *Peter Woodthorpe, actor
• 14 August – Trevor Skeet, lawyer
• 16 August – Stephen Terrell, barrister and politician
• 17 August – Sheila Callender, physician
• 18 August – Hugh Manning, actor
• 20 August – Leslie Shepard, author and archivist
• 25 August – Donald M. Ashton, film director
• 30 August – Derek Johnson, athlete
• 31 August – Carl Wayne, singer

  September

• 1 September – Gordon Parry, Baron Parry, politician
• 2 September – Brian Scarlett, physicist
• 4 September – Caroline Pratt, equestrian
• 7 September – Fritha Goodey, actress
• 9 September
• *Ian Cochrane, novelist
• *Thomas Kerr, aerospace engineer
• 10 September – Glyn Owen, actor
• 12 September – John Buller, composer
• 13 September – Eric Sams, musicologist and Shakespeare scholar
• 14 September – John Seymour, author and self-sufficiency campaigner
• 17 September – Katharina Dalton, physician
• 19 September – Stanley Clarke, businessman and philanthropist
• 20 September – Brian Clough, footballer and football manager
• 23 September
• *Nigel Nicolson, writer and politician
• *Maurice Michael Stephens, World War II flying ace
• 25 September – Michael Davies, writer on Roman Catholicism
• 30 September – Michael Relph, film producer and film director

  October

• 4 October – Michael Grant, ancient historian
• 6 October
• *William Clark, Baron Clark of Kempston, politician
• *Pete McCarthy, broadcaster and travel writer
• 7 October
• *Kenneth Bigley, civil engineer
• *Tony Lanfranchi, racing driver
• *Rosemary Murray, chemist and professor
• 9 October – Bryan R. Wilson, author of religious books
• 11 October
• *Paul Bryan, politician
• *Peter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Lothian, peer and landowner
• 13 October
• *Bernice Rubens, novelist
• *Ivor Wood, television animator
• 14 October – Sheila Keith, actress
• 15 October – Bill Eyden, jazz drummer
• 16 October
• *Vincent Brome, writer
• *Harold Perkin, social historian
• 18 October – Nancy Carline, artist
• 20 October – Lynda Lee-Potter, Daily Mail columnist
• 23 October – Bill Nicholson, footballer and football manager
• 25 October – John Peel, DJ and radio presenter
• 29 October
• *Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, member of the Royal Family and last surviving aunt of The Queen
• *Peter Twinn, mathematician, World War II codebreaker and entomologist
• 31 October – Roland Gibbs, head of the British Army from 1976 to 1979

  November

• 1 November – James Hanson, Baron Hanson, industrialist
• 4 November – Robert Heaton, songwriter and drummer
• 5 November – Basil McIvor, politician
• 6 November
• *Fred Dibnah, steeplejack and television personality
• *Robert Lang, actor
• 9 November – Emlyn Hughes, footballer, football manager and TV gameshow captain
• 13 November
• *John Balance, English singer-songwriter
• *Keith Weller, footballer
• 14 November – David Stanley Evans, astronomer
• 19 November – John Robert Vane, pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 22 November
• *Reginald Coates, civil engineer
• *Arthur Hopcraft, screenwriter
• 24 November – Janet Kear, ornithologist
• 25 November – Denis Richards, historian
• 26 November – C. Walter Hodges, writer, artist and Shakespearean scholar
• 27 November – John Dunn, radio presenter
• 28 November – Molly Weir, actress
• 30 November – Bill Brown, football goalkeeper

  December

• 2 December
• *Kevin Coyne, singer and composer
• *Alicia Markova, ballerina
• 6 December
• *Frank Reginald Carey, World War II air ace
• *Adrian Morris, artist
• 8 December – Leslie Scarman, Baron Scarman, judge
• 13 December – David Wheeler, computer scientist
• 14 December – Harry Bowcott, rugby union player and manager
• 15 December
• *Harry Errington, only London firefighter to receive the George Cross in World War II
• *Sidonie Goossens, harpist
• 17 December – Dick Heckstall-Smith, saxophonist
• 18 December – Anthony Sampson, writer and journalist
• 23 December
• *Richard Abel Smith, army officer
• *John W. Duarte, composer and guitarist
• *Ifor James, horn player
• 24 December
• *Richard Annand, soldier, first recipient of the Victoria Cross during World War II
• *Anthony Meyer, former Conservative MP who unsuccessfully challenged Margaret Thatcher's leadership in 1989
• *Dame Rosemary Rue, physicist and civil servant
• 26 December
• *Garard Green, actor
• *Sir Angus Ogilvy, husband of Princess Alexandra
• *Frank Pantridge, physician
• 29 December – John Bridgeman, sculptor