Blue plaque
A blue plaque is a round blue sign on a London building marking where a notable person lived or worked, under a scheme run by English Heritage and its predecessors since 1866. It is one of the oldest schemes of its kind in the world, and there are now more than a thousand official plaques across the capital.
In practice
Anyone can propose a person, but the rules are strict: the person must have been dead for at least twenty years, have made a significant contribution, and the building must survive in a form they would recognise. A panel decides, and many proposals wait years. English Heritage's scheme covers London only; elsewhere in England, and on London buildings outside the scheme, councils, societies and private owners put up plaques of their own, often in blue as well, so check the wording for "English Heritage" or "London County Council".
Why it matters to newcomers
Plaques turn an ordinary walk into a history lesson: Mozart in Belgravia, Marx in Soho, Virginia Woolf in Bloomsbury. English Heritage publishes a searchable map, and neighbourhoods such as Bloomsbury, Chelsea and Hampstead are dense with them. If your new flat has one, you will be asked about it.
Related
- Inns of Court - a district full of plaques to lawyers and writers
- West End - where many theatre and music plaques are
- Cockney rhyming slang - London's other living tradition
Source: English Heritage: blue plaques.