London’s full of famous homes. There are 850 blue plaques around London which English Heritage put in place to recognise that someone famous and culturally important lived at that address. The signs are dotted all over the capital and can provide a great basis for making a trip to areas that might not usually feature on your destinations list.

For those looking for a great day out which visits the homes of the most famous people to live in the English Capital, here are ten of the most popular blue plaque locations of London:

View Top 10 Blue Plaques of London in a larger map

1. Jimi Hendrix Blue Plaque

Address: 23 Brook Street, Mayfair, W1K 4HA

Neighbourhood: Westminster

Nearest tube: Bond Street & Oxford Circus

The guitarist and songwriter lived here from 1968-69 and once declared “this is first real home of my own”. This destination serves as a double feature for music fans, as the German composer George Frideric Handel occupied the house next door for nearly 40 years.

2. Charles Dickens Blue Plaque

Address: 48 Doughty Street, Holborn, WC1N 2LX

Neighbourhood: Bloomsbury Square

Nearest tube: Russell Square

This house, where the literary icon lived from 1812 to 1870, is Dickens’ only surviving house in London and now serves as the Charles Dickens Museum.

3. John Lennon Blue Plaque

Address: 34 Motagu Square, Marleybone W1H 2LJ

Neighbourhood: Marylebone

Nearest Tube: Baker Street & Edgware Road

Inhabited by John Lennon and wife Yoko Ono at the end of 1968, this was their first London home and marked one of the most creatively active periods of Lennon’s life.

4. Bob Marley Blue Plaque

Address: 34 Ridgemount Gardens, WC1E 7AS

Neighbourhood: West End

Nearest tube: Goodge Street

The reggae legend lived in London before his untimely death and used to play football in nearby Regent’s Park.

5. Vincent Van Gogh Blue Plaque

Address: 87 Hackford Road, South Lambeth, SW9 0RE

Neighbourhood: Brixton

Nearest tube: Stockwell

Van Gogh lived here from 1873-1874 with the property recently selling for £565,000.

6. George Orwell Blue Plaque

Address: 50 Lawford Road, Kentish Town, NW5 2LN

Neighbourhood: Camden

Nearest tube: Kentish Town

The writer of 1984 and Animal Farm (real name Eric Arthur Blair) researched many of his books whilst living in North London although the exact time period he spent in this property remains unknown.

7. Keith Moon Blue Plaque

Address: 90 Wardour Street, Soho, W1F 0TH

Neighbourhood: Soho

Nearest tube: Piccadilly Circus & Leicester Square

Keith Moon’s plaque is unusual in that it doesn’t mark where he lived but rather where he performed in the early days of his band The Who.

8. Karl Marx Blue Plaque

Address: 28 Dean Street Street, Soho, W1D 3RY

Neighbourhood: Soho

Nearest tube: Leicester Square & Tottenham Court Road

The father of communism lived in London where the conditions for workers of the day helped form the ideas behind his famous manifesto.

9. Oscar Wilde Blue Plaque

Address: 34 Tite Street, Chelsea, SW3 4JA

Neighbourhood: Chelsea

Nearest tube: Sloane Square

The famous novelist and wit lived in the fashionable Chelsea district for much of his life.

10. David Letterman Blue Plaque

Address: 4 Herbrand St, Russell Square, WC1N 1HX

Neighbourhood: Russell Square

Nearest tube: Russell Square

Not a genuine blue plaque, this joke played by comedian Ricky Gervais bears the inscription “David Letterman, American Talk Show Host, got drunk here for a week” and is a popular tourist attraction for those looking for a bit of light relief.

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