Lockdown gives you plenty of time to think. Unfortunately for me, rather than coming up with an idea worthy of Dragon's Den, or solving a serious societal issue, I come up with new ideas for running. No money in it, but it keeps me fit.
My latest brainwave was to try and run to every Blue Plaque in Lewisham. The scheme began in 1866 and London has over 900 of them. You can find them on buildings both humble and grand honouring people that have lived or worked there in the past. It is run by English Heritage and you can find
lists of them online.
I'll admit to being slightly relieved that Lewisham has only 11 of them. This was short lived however as I realised how spread out they are and how big the Borough is. I plotted a route using
Mapmyrun. This enables you to locate streets and plan your course. It also gives the approximate distance and I used it to guide me on the run.
It was the hottest day of the year. I left home at 6:30pm with the temperature still a balmy 79 degrees. I first headed to Lee where there were two plaques. The first was on Handen Road and celebrated Publisher
Sir Stanley Unwin who was born there in 1884.
Just around the corner in Gilmore Road was birthplace of poet and dramatist
James Elroy Flecker. He died aged just 31. Diana Rigg quotes an amended stanza (not the original) from his
poem Hassan in the 1969 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service as she looks out
of the window of Piz Gloria at the sun rising over the Swiss alps:
Thy dawn, O Master of the World, thy dawn;
For thee the sunlight creeps across the lawn,
For thee the ships are drawn down to the waves,
For thee the markets throng with myriad slaves,
For thee the hammer on the anvil rings,
For thee the poet of beguilement sings.
From Lee I ran into Lewisham and towards Blackheath where I located the plaque to the Author
Samuel Smiles in Granville Park. He wrote Self-Help which promoted thrift and claimed that poverty was caused largely
by irresponsible habits, while also attacking materialism and laissez-faire
government. It has been called "the bible of mid-Victorian
liberalism" and raised Smiles to celebrity status almost overnight in 1859.
Once at the top of the hill and on the Heath I soon located Eliot Place and the plaque for the polar explorer
Sir James Clark Ross. On the other side of the heath lived the Astronomer, Meteorologist and pioneer of weather forecasting
James Glaisher who has a lunar crater named after him.
I now went west into the setting sun towards New Cross Road where I found the plaque dedicated to
John Tallis who published London Street Views, a series of 88 views of London's major streets in 1838-40.
From here I needed to travel south-east back towards Lewisham before turning south on Tressilian Road to find Tressilian Crescent. Here was the plaque honouring the writer
Edgar Wallace who wrote the original screenplay for King Kong but died before it was made. Interestingly it was originally called The Beast and then Kong - which was rejected for sounding too Chinese! He suggested King Ape before the decision was made to use King Kong. He also write hundreds over other works.
Next was a long uninterrupted run to Forest Hill and the Horniman Museum. Not surprisingly the plaque here was to honour
John Frederick Horniman who bequeathed the museum and park there to the people of London in 1901.
I was now in the south-west of the Borough and approaching Crystal Palace. I skirted the edge and turned east along Westwood Hill. Here there were two plaques next door to one another.
Sir Ernest Shackleton the Antarctic Explorer lived at number 12, while
Sir George Grove lived at number 14. He was famous for 'promoting musical knowledge' through his book Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians and other research.
Just around the corner was the home of Socialist Campaigner
Eleanor 'Tussy' Marx, the youngest daughter of Karl Marx who lived and died in the home on Jew's Walk. All 11 done I ran back to Hither Green to complete 16 miles altogether.
