A few weeks ago, I promised I would mention a few more of the characters behind the famous blue plaques on the walls of many homes throughout London, and particularly in our area of metropolitan Kent.

All of them show where great figures from the past once lived or worked. How many of the following do you know?

Ewan MacColl lived at Beckenham. His real name was James Henry Miller. He was married three times.

His wives includiing Joan Littlewood, with whom he founded the influential Theatre Workshop, and folk singer Peggy Seeger, for whom he wrote the song The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. It was a hit for Roberta Flack in 1972.

He also wrote the theme music for the film Play Misty for Me.

Not bad numbers to put on your CV.

Heddle Nash, one of the England’s finest ever tenors, lived at Petts Wood. He sang in many Italian opera houses before returning to England to sing the Duke in Rigoletto at the Old Vic in 1925.

The Welsh baritone, Sir Geraint Evans, also lived in Petts Wood, at Birchwood Road.

A patron of the Churchill Theatre, he made his farewell appearance at Covent Garden in 1984 in the same year his autobiography, A Knight at the Opera, was published.

One man to be admired is Thomas Crapper, an eminent sanitary engineer who developed and marketed the flush toilet.

He lived at 12 Thornsett Road, Bromley between circa 1897 and 1910. Mr Crapper became a plumber, then sanitary engineer soon after he left school in 1853 at a time when it just was not a normal way of life for most.

As a result of his work, he was invited by Prince Edward (later King Edward VII to supply his estate with the plumbing technology he championed.

His toilets became the toilets of royalty, a different throne that ushered in a new age of sanitation.

Finally, did you know Walter de la Mare spent much of his early writing life in Beckenham and Anerley? He actually lived in three houses in the borough, including 195 Mackenzie Road, where he wrote his first novel, Henry Brockden.

The official blue plaque scheme in London was set up in 1867 celebrating Lord Byron’s Holles Street residence.

Initially the scheme was run by the Royal Society of Arts.

It was transferred to the London County Council in 1901 and later the GLC.

Today it is the National Trust.

There are more to come. Watch this space.