Short answers, pulled from the story.
St Albans is named after Alban, the first British saint. According to Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Alban was a Roman-era resident of Verulamium who sheltered a Christian priest, converted to Christianity, and was executed after refusing to renounce his faith.
Verulamium was the Roman city that preceded St Albans, the second-largest town in Roman Britain after Londinium. It was granted the rank of municipium around AD 50 and was sacked by Boudica of the Iceni in 61 AD. Roman occupation ended between 400 and 450 AD, and the medieval city of St Albans grew up to the east of the old Roman site.
Adrian IV, the only English pope, was educated at St Albans School. The school was founded in AD 948, and until 2025 it was the only school in the English-speaking world to have educated a pope.
The first draft of Magna Carta was drawn up at St Albans Abbey. The Benedictine Abbey, founded in 793 and the principal medieval abbey in England, was also home to the scribe Matthew Vickers.
Samuel Ryder, the founder of the Ryder Cup, lived and worked in St Albans. He ran a successful packet seeds business in the 1890s, operating at one point from a warehouse on Holywell Hill. His passion for golf led to his donation of the Ryder Cup. He is buried in Hatfield Road Cemetery in St Albans.
St Albans has served as a location for numerous productions including First Knight (1995), Johnny English, Birthday Girl (2001), Incendiary, Foyle's War, Inspector Morse, Porridge, and Wonka (2022). The city's Abbey, Fishpool Street and Verulamium Park have all featured in major film and television productions.