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Harry Beck, creator of first modern Tube map, to receive Blue Plaque recognition
Mr Beck, who designed the first grid-style Tube map which set the benchmark for the map's design, will have an English heritage Blue Plaque unveiled at his birthplace in Wesley Road, Leyton, east London.
London Underground map pioneer Harry Beck will today have his iconic creation officially commemorated on the 80th anniversary of its first public appearance.
Mr Beck, who designed the first grid-style Tube map which set the benchmark for the map's design, will have an English heritage Blue Plaque unveiled at his birthplace in Wesley Road, Leyton, east London.
Early Tube maps had proved fairly unsuccessful, with creators' concern with geography and distance between stations leading to squiggly hard-to-work-out guides to stations.
Mr Beck's map was different in that it ignored much of what had gone before, favouring, instead, an easy-to-follow grid system on which all subsequent maps on an expanding network have been based.
For instance, Mr Beck worked out that people did not really need to know the distance between stops so much as what the next station would be.
Mr Beck first unveiled his revised Tube map in 1931, but it was initially deemed too radical as it didn't show the relative distances between stations.
It was made public in 1933 with the publication of 700,000 copies, and proved to be a success - there had to be a large reprint of the map after just one month.
The plaque will be unveiled by London Transport Museum Director Sam Mullins who said: "Beck's map was revolutionary in its simplicity.
"It has become a London icon and influenced the design of many Metro maps across the globe, as well as being the inspiration for many contemporary artists and designers."
Mr Beck, who had started work with London Transport as an engineering draughtsman, was supposed to have been paid just five guineas (£5.25) for the original design.
After years of failing to acknowledge Beck's contribution to the Tube map design, the London Transport Museum finally created a Beck gallery in the early 1990s.
There is also a commemorative plaque in his memory at Finchley Central tube station, near where he used to live.
Harry Beck died, aged 72, in 1974.
