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Blue plaque winners

Blue plaque winners 2005

Charlie Chaplin

Walworth

One of Southwark's greatest icons, Charlie Chaplin receives a plaque this year. Voters from around the world emailed their support for Chaplin's nomination, reinforcing his universal appeal. As one voter, Ann Fitzmaurice said, "He's an extraordinary comic genius who came from such poverty and deprivation and achieved so much."

Manze's pie and mash shop

Peckham

4,800 voters pledged their support for the celebrated pie and mash shop, making it our most popular nominee ever. For voters like Fran Eagan the shop is a real slice of heritage: "The one in Peckham opened in the same year my mum was born. She used to go there to get her jellied eels and was often given a few pie crusts free as they were so poor." 

Marianne Jean-Baptiste

Camberwell

The locally-born Hollywood star and the first black British actress to be nominated for an Oscar is your choice for Camberwell. Director Mike Leigh lent his support to her nomination: "She was brilliant in Secrets and Lies, and a joy to work with. No daughter of Southwark better deserves a blue plaque."

Peek Freans biscuit factory

Bermondsey

Peek Freans brought employment to generations; invented the twiglet and gave Bermondsey the name Biscuit Town . Voter June Clark said: "How could you not give recognition for such a successful, credible company that offered a livelihood for so many working class [people] in south east London?".

Phyllis Persall

Dulwich

You've awarded a plaque to the woman who created the London A to Z and walked 3,000 miles in the process. Her achievement struck a chord with voters including Ann Shuttleworth: "When I moved to London aged 18, I don't know how I would have managed to find anything without my A-Z."

Richard Carr Gomm

Rotherhithe

2005 sees the 40th anniversary of the first Carr-Gomm home in Bermondsey, so it's fitting that you've awarded its founder a blue plaque this year. After setting up the Abbeyfield society to help older people, Richard launched the Carr-Gomm Society offering housing and support to all ages. Votes for Richard came from as far a field as New Zealand , South Africa and Japan . 

The Rose theatre

Borough and Bankside

Voting was neck and neck but you opted to celebrate the Rose, birthplace of Bankside's Shakespearean theatre. Among the supporters was Sir Ian McKellen who said: "The remains of the building where Shakespeare and Marlowe learnt their craft deserve a plaque more than any other I can think of!". 

Una Marson

Nunhead and Peckham Rye

The first black programme maker at the BBC, Una Marson was a distinguished poet and playwright, secretary to Haile Selassie and the voice of Calling the West Indes during World War II. Her biographer Delia Jarrett-Macauley said: "For her mighty contribution to war-time broadcasting alone, Una deserves to be remembered and honoured."  

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Blue plaques

Tel: 020 7525 2000

vote4icons@southwark.gov
.uk

 

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