Everyone knows that Hampstead is a hotbed of celebrity homes, but look closely at the blue plaques on many of the houses and you can find out more about the illustrious neighbours of yesteryear. These notes and the map will provide a fun tour of the area and help newcomers and longterm residents alike find out more about its history.
Comic genius and founder of Private Eye, Willie Rushton, carved a career from his wit. But it was bores who inspired the famous game that led to him being immortalised with a blue plaque, Adam Sonin discovers
Kate Greenaway’s distinctive illustrations pioneered a Regency ideal of childhood without the gasworks and waterworks of industrialisation, but it was at her studio home in Hampstead that the artist found quiet solace, Adam Sonin discovers.
In public life Sir Edward Elgar was one of England’s great composers, but at home in Hampstead he was a DIY enthusiast and a special constable at his local police station, Adam Sonin discovers.
Heavyweight boxing champion Tom Sayers was the last of the bare-knuckle fighters and the first of England’s champions, Adam Sonin discovers.
The films of pioneering documentary maker Humphrey Jennings played a key role in boosting the nation’s morale and in encouraging the United States to join the Second World War, Adam Sonin discovers
Journalist Ruth First’s work helped to expose the evils of the apartheid regime in her native South Africa. But she paid the ultimate price on returning to the African continent after years of exile in Camden Town, Adam Sonin reveals.
When Jewish anti-apartheid activist and friend of Nelson Mandela, Joe Slovo, fled South Africa in 1963 he found safe passage to Camden Town. He would go on to play a pivotal role in bringing a new order to South Africa, Adam Sonin discovers.
Many doors were slammed in the face of Kwame Nkrumah, the man who would later become Ghana’s first president, when he first sought rooms in Kentish Town in 1945 due to the colour of his skin. But, as Adam Sonin discovers they were intellectually fruitful years.
In the latest of our series commemorating people honoured with blue plaques, Adam Sonin explores the life of Melanie Klein, who split the British Psychoanalytic Society with her work analysing children through play.
