Picks

These are our all-time favourite plaques. The weird and the wonderful, the odd and the personal. The Open Plaques server rotates these 'picks' on the home page as 'Plaque of the day'. If you have a favourite then please suggest it to us with a reason why.
Plaque Of The Day

Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler, David Knopfler, John Illsley, and 1 other

Jez says, "A block of flats in Deptford was the salubrious settiing for Dire Straits first gig"

"This is a very early Royal Society of Arts plaque. Just thought that i'd mention our sponsor."

Open Plaques

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"I particular like this plaque because if you look at the satellite view you'll see that the area is laid out in the shape of a plane."

Jez

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"Gary Cooper, gunslinging film star...went to school in Dunstable"

Jez

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"It seems that fish and chips was invented in Oldham"

Jez

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"It has a nice way to remember stuff"

Jez

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"Another humourous plaque, that gives us a role of "drunken buffoon"."

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"In the words of the famous Victor "I don't believe it!""

Jez

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"they wear their badge with pride (probably)"

Jez

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"The windswept views of Whitby bay inspired Bram Stoker, now you can sit in the same spot!"

Jez

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"Where there's muck there's brass. We spotted this as we drove past."

Jez

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"Sometimes plaques are put up to commemorate the oddest things! Sadly this one is no longer on display."

myf

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"I like this plaque because it is just a painted plate really."

Jez

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"I'm a big fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories, and 221b Baker Street is one of the best-known addresses in literature"

myf

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"The 'Don't Panic' political group raised a few eyebrows with this stunt. Jacqui Smith had got into trouble over MP's expense claims"

Jez

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"I like this one because it has an unusual role on it. When I do a presentation about openplaques there is a slide showing lots of roles, and people always notice 'only twin'."

Jez

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"The famous Reichenbach Falls where Sherlock Holmes meets his death! or does he??!"

Jez

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"This plaque is insane. It explains how Variation No.11 of Sir Edward Elgar's Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma) is about an incident Dan The Bulldog falling into the River Wye"

Jez

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"This plaque is going to be fairly hard to get a photo of as it is on the Space Shuttle Atlantis. Maybe the visitors centre allows you to get close enough?"

Jez

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"There is a great back story about William "Mole Man" Lyttle who lived as a recluse, digging tunnels under his house in Hackney. Independent ad agency Karmarama felt honour-bound to put a plaque up to tell the world."

Jez

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"This has to be one of _the_ best inscriptions ever. It is also quite a difficult plaque to get a photo of."

Jez

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"Nice to know that Julius Caesar went on his hols to the beach at Walmer"

Jez

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"This one-off plaque commemorates the birthplace of John Lennon. It is unusual because it has an image (of his bespectacled eyes) on it."

Jez

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"Celebrated film star stays in Hastings shocker!"

Jez

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"I like this because punk's not dead"

Jez

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"This plaque has so far eluded me photographing it because it is inside the Brighton Centre. With it, I would nearly have the set of Brighton and Hove."

Jez

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"This place is only open to the public two days a year, and there's a radiation danger!"

Jez

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"Brighton and Hove Albion's Goldstone Ground used to be right opposite this plaque. We never realised until now that there was an actual 'Goldstone'."

Jez

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"The Pandora Gallery plaque is one that I must have walked past a hundred times and never seen. It is on Brighton seafront and has been battered by the sea winds until you can hardly see the writing. "

Jez

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"I like this one because it's so unexpected - such a great scientist, in a hut, in the middle of Norfolk!"

myf

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"This George Orwell plaque always causes a stir as a picture shows a CCTV camera in front of it. Click on the photo to the left to see the true image"

Jez

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"Nipper was the first non-human on our system and caused a bit of a problem for our data modelling."

Jez

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"This plaque is unusual in that it shows the face of the man himself in relief"

myf

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"mmmmm.....tasty"

Jez

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"On a holiday-of-a-lifetime in South Africa, driving through Simon's Town (being named Simon myself, this was pleasing enough) I noticed this plaque, commemorating major influences in the history of the town. "

Simon

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"Dylan Thomas was a great Welsh poet, whose works are still popular today"

myf

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"The first descent by parachute was a somewhat sturdy affair including whalebone ribs."

Jez

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"Who would have thought that David Bowie started his career in Beckenham"

Jez

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"Alan Hull..."The Fog on the Tyne was all his""

Jez

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"Made by Leander Architecture, this plaque is the first to include a QR code which when scanned by a mobile phone will take you to a Norman Wisdom web"

Jez

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"An anonymous protestor created this"

Jez

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"This is cute. Research is needed to say who "Boris the cat" was..."

Jez

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"A record of a foul deed! The Earl of Rochester must have had it in for Dryden. I wonder what he had done?!"

Jez

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"He influenced British comedy for decades after his death"

myf

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"well, it's definitely a niche role..."

Jez

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"The creation of this plaque caused questions over commemorating people who are still alive. The English Heritage rules are quite strict to prevent the 'cult of now', but should other groups follow suit?"

Jez

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"London's first Indian restaurant in 1810"

Jez

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"I find it hard to keep from doing a Beavis and Butt-Head snigger whenever I see this one"

Jez

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"This a rare plaque as it features a picture, in this case the two draymen flogging General Haynau"

Jez

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"This is a nice one. It shows the human side of a US President"

Jez

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"Ooo! A murder!"

Jez

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"it was a little bit snobby to call him 'the musical coalman'"

Jez

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"We always like a plaque with a picture on it. Looks like Worcester Police had helmets with a spike on top"

Jez

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"This plaque is a fabulous mosaic by the artist Carrie Reichardt"

Jez

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"When I worked for a games company in Brighton, Tuaca was our drink of choice"

Jez

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"With a title like "Duck Snub Outrage", who could fail to like this plaque?"

Jez

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""At one strange birth this cow cast forth eight calves in human shape""

Jez

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"I love the fact that Lewes used to have a tilting ground, ie a place where jousting took place."

Jez

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"It is a rarity for a video game character to be commemorated, but Lara spawned a huge franchise from Derby"

Jez

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Bristol Riots April 2011

"Another home-made plaque. This time marking some rioting in Bristol over a Tesco store opening"

Jez

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"I like this because someone has very carefully bent a pipe so that it goes round the plaque"

Jez

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"This plaque is great because it is fairly high up on the building and indicates the exact room that Alexander Fleming worked in"

Jez

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"This plaque has a subtle sense of humour"

Jez

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"Great to see Alex's old domy celebrated"

Jez

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"This slightly seditious plaque appeared in Brixton. Nice use of grafitti."

Jez

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""Bob" sounds like quite a character!"

myf

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"it's such a lovely thing to commemorate"

myf

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"During the Civil War, Robert Greville, 2nd Baron Brooke commanded Parliament forces in Warwickshire and Staffordshire. Many consider Greville to be the first victim of sniper fire."

Jez

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"this highly detailed plaque gives you the story behind the person commemorated"

Gnomonic

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"We have a great picture to go with the plaque unveiling. All the female descendants of Edith Garrud were there."

Jez

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"This attractive plaque led my to read about a fleeting life that was clearly inspiring"

Jez

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"This is a fabulous plaque! Who could resist 'Barking Lord Scruff'?"

Jez

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"Lofthus Signs stepped in after the Carron Fish Bar was told by the local council to remove their 'ugly' banner. They've produced this lovely blue plaque in conjunction with Northsound."

Scotland

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"It's not often a plaque contains an epigram from the person it commemorates, but this one does exactly that and tells us he partied at least once with a bohemian set, including George Gershwin, Dorothy Parker and Harpo Marx. Founder and first editor of the New Yorker, Harold Ross was - like most journalists - fond of name-dropping, so his plaque is quite in keeping with that tradition."

Simon

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"It is the most blue plaque that we've found"

Paul

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"I spied this plaque in the background whilst watching TV and had to log on and add it. Still awaiting an Elvis fan's photo though."

Jez

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"A nice looking plaque down in Portmeirion where The Prisoner was filmed"

Number One

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"A unique plaque to Victorian cross-dressers"

Jez

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"Although we don't usually accept gravestones, we can sometimes turn a blind eye to the unusual ones. Pet gravestones are more likely to be where the animal lived rather than a graveyard."

Jez

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"Nancy Perriam had an amazing life! She served as a powder monkey (loading the guns) in Admiral Nelson's fleet at the battles of L'Orient, Cape St. Vincent and the Nile."

Jez

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"Born in 1895 Anna followed in her father Sigmund Freud's footsteps, adding to the newly born field of psychoanalysis. Alongside Melanie Klein, she is considered the founder of psychoanalytic child psychology. The house this plaque is on is now a museum featuring among its objects Freud's famous couch. http://www.freud.org.uk/"

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"It's great when plaques turn up off the beaten path in London, like this one in Bromley, South East London for Peter Kropotkin, born in 1842. Kropotkin was a Russian zoologist, evolutionary theorist, philosopher, economist, geographer, author and one of the world's foremost anarcho-communists. He moved to Bromley after being expelled from Switzerland and narrowly escaping prison in France. "

Deirdre

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"This plaque uses a special font for 'The Times'"

Jez

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"I always like a plaque about food"

Jez

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"I guess it is dead famous in Eccles anyway"

Jez

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"For 50 years it made daily life easier"

Jez

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"'London photo: my favourite blue plaque (so far)' says http://www.flickfilosopher.com/2015/07/london-photo-my-favorite-blue-plaque-so-far.html"

flickfilosopher

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"This is the plaque that started Open Plaques. I was reading an article about walking across the Uk latitude 50 and how he couldn't find this one in Hove...it piqued my interest, and now look where we are!"

Jez

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"A block of flats in Deptford was the salubrious settiing for Dire Straits first gig"

Jez

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"This is terribly sad when you look into the story. Arthur Sullivan received a Victoria Cross for extreme gallantry in rescuing four members of his platoon in Russia in 1919. In 1937 he was attending the coronation of King George VI when he slipped and hit his head on the kerb. The blow was fatal."

Jez

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"This was my first photo to be shown on Open Plaques. Am chuffed to help a great resource. It's just around the corner from my work in Southwark and is an incredibly tranquil spot devised by the great Victorian reformer Octavia Hill as an open space for the urban working class. It is as valued now by the local community as I'm sure it was then."

Oliver Chapman

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"This plaque was a real surprise find. Driving through the outskirts of the small, sleepy village of Chiddingly, this plaque, positioned high on a beautiful old cottage, caught my eye. Village plaques are rare, and octagonal ones even rarer."

Simon

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"Not all plaques are historically exciting"

Jez

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"This plaque in Soho's Greek Street is designed and coloured like Wedgwood ceramics; a favourite of my Mother's when growing up."

Simon

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"Before Twitter and text messaging there were telegrams! The first wireless transatlantic one was sent from this spot in Cape Cod to England on 18th Jan 1903, addressed to Edward VII King of England from Theodore Roosevelt President of the United States of America. Wireless traffic between the two countries is somewhat busier these days."

Deirdre

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"Hmmm, a plaque for the "Bastards' House"...it isn't as bad as you think"

Jez

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"The plaque to Ziggy was originally proposed to English Heritage as he has been 'dead' for over 20 years. This is the spot where the iconic cover shot was taken. Unveiled by Gary Kemp"

David Bowie (probably)

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"This plaque has an interesting design, undertaken by Danny Osborne, well known for his internationally acclaimed sculpture of Oscar Wilde in Merrion Square in Dublin. The spiral symbol on the plaques was selected for its universal and elegant form in science and engineering."

Jez

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"A suspended track monorail with a bullet-shaped carriage with a propeller at each end...what's not to like!"

Jez

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"Anyone described as "seaman, lion-tamer, Socialist pioneer, antiquary and Labour MP" with the 'MP' bit last gets my vote!"

Jez

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"A favourite for mathematicians everywhere"

Twitter

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"I always like a colourful plaque design and this one in the Guinness Brewery too! "

Jez

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"anyone who watched The Terror will appreciate that this plaque to Dr Goodsir on King William Island will be hard to photograph"

Jez

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"I always liked Fox's Glacier Mints when I was a kid. I also like the picture on the plaque"

Jez

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"I thought this was a spoof the first time I saw it. Then I read more..."

Jez

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"Poor Adrian, he died of rabies contracted from the bite of a mad fox"

Jez

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"I saw this displayed on the front page of Open Plaques as a random plaque and thought that it deserved highlighting. Lionel Logue was of course played by Geoffrey Rush in The King's Speech in 2010"

Jez

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"At Baker Street Station, the world's first underground passenger railway. It was opened for public traffic by the Metropolitan Railway Company on 10 January 1863"

Deirdre

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Mario Lanza Ghostwriter haunts here

"The mysterious AJW draws the same cartoon image of Mario Lanza on beermats and always includes a fact or a quote. This has been going on for over 50 years."

Jez

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"Really so sad that Rik Mayall died so suddenly. Great to see this spoof plaque go up so quickly. Now all we need is someone in Hammersmith to get us the photo!"

Jez

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"Not all plaques are for world famous people, but if someone has gone to the effort and cost of erecting a plaque then that is good enough for us. I hope that i'm not maligning 'Spider' by imagining that his 'hours of leisure' were mostly of the tramp-like variety."

Jez

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"The Duke of Buckingham was hugely unpopular having been defeated in battle by the French. Attempts to officially try hi for incompetence had failed. So, John Fenton, a lieutenant in the English army, took matters into his own hands."

Jez

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"On 1st December 1919, Nancy Astor became the first woman MP to take her seat in the House of Commons, Westminster. She was led into the House by Arthur Balfour and Lloyd-George, both of whom had said that they would rather have a rattlesnake in the House than her. But the first woman ever elected to Parliament was Constance Markievicz in December 1918, who didn't take up her seat (for Dublin, St Patrick's constituency) and was also in Holloway Prison at the time for her anti-conscription activities."

Deidre

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