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Bobby Moore and Freddie Mercury to be commemorated with Blue Plaques
29 December 2015 by Emily Gosden
Bobby Moore will lead a select group of famous names to be commemorated with a blue plaque in 2016, as the scheme’s 150th year coincides with the 50th anniversary of England’s football World Cup triumph. English Heritage, which manages the London Blue Plaques Scheme, confirmed that Moore, who captained the victorious 1966 side and died in 1993, would be honoured with a plaque at his childhood home in Barking.
Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, who died in 1991, will also be among about a dozen high-profile figures to be commemorated by the scheme this year, with a plaque at his first London home in Feltham.
Photo: FROM THE BOOK, FREDDIE MERCURY, THE GREAT PRETENDER
A plaque commemorating Freddie Mercury will be installed on his first London home in the 150th anniversary year of the Blue Plaque scheme.
More than 900 blue plaques have been installed around London since the scheme was founded in 1866 by the Society of Arts, with the first plaque awarded a year later to commemorate the birthplace of Lord Byron in Cavendish Square, a building that was later demolished.
Among other events to be remembered next year will be the Battle of the Somme, which saw the British army suffer 60,000 casualties on the first day of the offensive on July 1, 2016, in the worst day of the army’s history. The Government has already set out plans for a commemorative event at the Thiepval Memorial in Northern France to mark the centenary of the offensive, with 8,000 tickets distributed through a ballot to members of the public
. English Heritage said it was also planning events to mark the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings and the 750th anniversary of the Siege of Kenilworth, the longest siege in English history. Re-enactments of both events will be staged by the organisation. Next year will also be the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, with a host of events and exhibitions planned around the country including film screenings at The Globe in London. Other anniversaries next year include the 500th anniversary of the birth of Mary Tudor, the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London, the 300th anniversary of the birth of Capability Brown and the centenary of the Easter Rising.