Pop mogul Simon Cowell has family links to Birmingham, records have revealed.

Cowell has visited Birmingham in recent years as a judge looking for rising stars when the X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent auditions were held in the city.

But it’s the first time his family connections to the city have been unveiled.

The new Library of Birmingham has published over 2.5 million Birmingham records online for the first time and family tree website www.ancestry.co.uk has discovered that 53-year-old Cowell has heritage in the West Midlands.

Simon Cowell’s great-grandparents Robert James Dalglish and Sarah Fereday were married in the Harborne area of Birmingham in 1900, the records show.

Cowell, who’s also been a judge on Pop Idol and American Idol, has been in the headlines this year for his relationship with New York socialite Lauren Silverman.

After divorcing her then husband, real estate mogul Andrew Silverman, in August 2013, it was confirmed that Lauren is expecting Cowell’s child.

Cowell, who reportedly earns more than £54 million a year on which he pays 40 per cent tax of almost £22 million, had previously been involved with American Idol makeup artist Mezhgan Hussainy, but the couple broke off their 18-month engagement in September 2011.

Among other celebrities linked to Birmingham, the family tree of Hollywood actor Orlando Bloom crops up in the Library of Birmingham's records. The star is best known for his roles in the Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean films.

The baptism record of Orlando's third great-grandmother Ellen Bolton appears in the collection and reveals that her father John Harvey Bolton worked as a gun maker at this time.

And the marriage record of One Direction star Liam Payne’s great-grandparents John Taylor and Florence Bertha appears in the collection in 1824. Payne himself was born in Wolverhampton.