Bill McCann - Londons Blue Plaques in a Nutshell Volume 1: Introduction, Theatrical Plaques, Series Indices

London's Blue Plaques
in a Nutshell By
Bill McCann Third Edition Updated to 2019 Also Available in Nutshell Books: Hallowe'en in a Nutshell . Islam in a Nutshell . The Catholic Popes in a Nutshell Volume 1: The Age of Persecutions. The Catholic Popes in a Nutshell Volume 2: The Age of Heresies. The Catholic Popes in a Nutshell Volume 3: The Coming of Age. The Catholic Popes in a Nutshell Volume 4: The Age of Darkness.

The Emperors of China in a Nutshell: Volume 1 : Huang Di to the Xia Dynasty. The Emperors of China in a Nutshell: Volume 2 : The Shang Dynasty. The Emperors of China in a Nutshell: Volume 3 : The Zhou & Qin Dynasties. Nutshell Guides to Fluent English: Volume 1 : Pre-Elementary Level Nutshell Guides to Fluent English: Volume 2 : Elementary Level Stories from Shakespeare: Volume 1 : The Tragedies Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England Volume I Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England Volume II Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England Volume III Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England Volume IV Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England Volume V Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England Volume VI Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England Volume VII The Nutshell Blue Plaque Series. Volume 1: Introduction, Theatrical Plaques, General Indices. Actors, Actresses, Dramatists, Managers.

Volume 2: Musical, Entertainment & Sporting Plaques. Dancers, Composers, Conductors, Singers; Music Hall; Entertainers. Volume 3: Literary Plaques. Diarists, Novelists, Playwrights, Poets, Writers. Volume 4: Artistic Plaques. Artists, Ceramicists, Cartoonists, Illustrators, Sculptors.

Volume 5: Political and Public Service Plaques. Admirals, Campaigners, Generals, Firefighters, MPs, Policemen, Prime Ministers, Statesmen. Volume 6: Philosophical, Scientific and Medical Plaques. Doctors, Engineers, Explorers, Inventors, Nurses, Scientists, Philosophers. Volume 7: Architectural, Business, Philanthropic & Journalistic Plaques. Architects, Builders, Designers, Educators, Entrepreneurs, Industrialists, Philanthropists Social Reformers.

Volume 8: Overseas Visitors, Religious and Historical Sites Plaques. Foreign Guests; Cardinals, Preachers, Priests, special sites. Volume 9: Special Volume. All Plaques to Female Achievers. About Nutshell Books The aim of our little books is to distil the history of human thoughts, and deeds, and achievements over the past 5,000 years into a form that is immediately accessible to the electronically focussed denizens of the early twenty-first century. They are aimed especially at the computer generation who, unbeknownst to themselves, have been cheated by the triplet terrors of an illiterate dumbed-down education, the relentless brainwashing of a trivialised "pop-culture" and the cynical manipulation of a "must-have" tyranny of fashion that has no aim other than to part them with their money and thus enrich both the manipulators and the parasitic clattering classes of the media.

It is astonishing how, in less than half a century, this anti-culture has enslaved and debauched a whole generation who are not only ignorant of their own past, but whose horizons have been limited to a culturally, intellectually, musically and artistically illiterate desert island in a sea of naked greed, opportunism and exploitation. A practical physiological effect of all of this has been to drastically reduce the attention span of this victim generation, so that they are unable to respond to anything but the shortest of aural and visual stimuli. But it has not, we must earnestly hope, killed off that very basic human attribute curiosity. For this reason, and in this hope, Nutshell Books are short, abundantly illustrated and available in both electronic and more traditional formats. Their aim is to try to re-connect this abandoned generation with its past, so that it can look forward, in some confidence and with a solid sense of being , to the adventures and challenges of the future. Published in the USA by Nutshell Books 2019 Catalogue number: 019-004-09

Frontispiece: Original faade of the Savoy Theatre 1888 VOLUME ONE
The Blue Plaques Story
Theatrical Plaques
Complete Series Indices Copyright Bill McCann 2019.

Bill McCann has asserted the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrievable system, or transmitted, in any form, by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical printing or otherwise, without the prior consent of the copyright holder. All illustrations in the text have been attributed to their respective copyright holders where applicable. If anyone has evidence that any particular image in the public domain, they should contact the author at nutshell@europe.com with full details as soon as possible. Original scans from out-of-copyright publications and original prints in the author's personal collection have been used in some entries, the printed sources being listed in the Bibliography at the end of each volume as appropriate.

Acknowledgments. Most of the images of Blue Plaques in this publication are reproduced with the kind permission of the team of photographers at openplaques.org and are individually identified in the text. Others who have generously allowed me to use their images are individually identified in the text and include Kenneth Brown, Don Shelton who has a priceless Miniature Portrait Art Collection, David Castor and Chris Hall. Dedication For Barry and the twenty-five years we swanned gloriously through Cultural and Historical London.

Figure 1:Noel Coward Theatre (originally New Theatre) 1905 Table of Contents Preface London's Blue plaques celebrate great figures of the past and the buildings that they inhabited. Originally proposed by William Ewart MP in the House of Commons in 1863, the scheme has been running for almost 150 years and is one of the oldest of its kind in the world.

English Heritage was given control over the scheme in 1986 and between 10 and 15 new plaques are erected every year. There are currently more than 800 plaques spread throughout the metropolis except in the City of London and in Whitehall. There is a set of well-defined criteria to determine who shall and who shall not be commemorated with a London Blue Plaque. Foremost amongst these is that the subject must be famous and dead, and not just dead, but dead for twenty years or born more than 100 year ago. Other important criteria are that the building in which they lived (or died) must be still standing and that the plaque be placed so that it can be easily seen from the street and from a passing bus. The Blue Plaques have now not only become part of the tradition of London, but also a very special part.

They are an adventure. They can be a planned adventure or a rollercoaster of discovery where the shades of London's past are waiting around practically every corner of the metropolis to delight and inform you. Part of the delight in walking the streets of London is the discovery of a Plaque on a house where someone famous once lived, and the sudden realisation that you are sharing a little bit of what was their daily view of the world. Less of a delight is the discovery of a plaque to someone whose name you are vaguely familiar with, but about whose life or achievements you can recall very little, or even nothing at all. Then there is the discovery of someone of whom you have never heard but who is tantalisingly and briefly described on the plaque itself. Many people, for example are brought up a little short to read "LOVELACE, Ada, Countess of (1815-1852) Pioneer of Computing, lived here" on a house on St.