←Audrey Hepburn and Marc Bolan among stars to get London blue plaque
Текст: Audrey Hepburn, Marc Bolan and Una Marson are among those receiving a blue plaque for their impact on London’s cultural landscapes, English Heritage has announced.
The charity paid tribute to Hepburn, whose global fame brought international attention and prestige to the capital; Bolan, whose “glam rock” innovation redefined the city’s music scene in the 1970s; and Marson, the trailblazing Jamaican poet, playwright, broadcaster and campaigner for racial and gender equality.
Other figures being recognised by plaques are Alicia Markova, who was instrumental in positioning the city as a centre for world-class ballet, Barbara Pym, the renowned British novelist whose works such as Excellent Women captured a slice of postwar London’s social fabric, and Graham Sutherland, the influential British artist known for his Neo-Romantic landscapes and his controversial portrait of Winston Churchill.
The English
Heritage curatorial director, Matt Thompson, said: “2025 marks an exciting year for the blue plaques scheme as we honour these outstanding individuals who transformed the cultural fabric of London.
“From literature and art to dance and music, these figures helped shape the London we know today. Their contributions not only had a profound impact on their fields but also continue to inspire generations.”
Bolan, the enigmatic frontman of T Rex, was known for his flamboyant style and electrifying stage presence. He captivated audiences with his fusion of rock, folk, and glittering theatrics, making hits such as Get It On and Ride a White Swan staples of the era.
His iconic look, featuring sequins, feather boas, and platform boots became the quintessential aesthetic of Glam Rock, and also challenged traditional notions of masculinity. The plaque will mark one of his west London addresses.
Hepburn’s early years in London, during which she transitioned from ballet to acting, will be commemorated with a blue plaque in Mayfair.
During this formative period, Hepburn landed her first film and stage roles, including her Broadway debut in Gigi. It was also while living in the city that her Oscar-winning portrayal of Princess Ann in Roman Holiday (1953) cemented her status as a Hollywood icon and an enduring symbol of grace and style.
Marson was one of the most influential Black figures of the 20th century. As the first Black woman to be employed as a programme assistant, and later as the first Black producer at the BBC, she spearheaded a wave of change in British broadcasting.
This included creating and producing programmes such as Calling the West Indies, which connected Caribbean service personnel in Britain with their families back home, and Caribbean Voices, which became a vital platform for emerging Caribbean writers.
Pym became known for her witty, insightful portrayals of single women’s lives following her debut novel Some Tame Gazelle (1950). She will be commemorated in Pimlico, from where her best-loved and best-known novel, Excellent Women, draws its inspiration and setting.
Sutherland captured the essence of natural and human forms in ways that challenged traditional artistic conventions. His 1954 portrait of Churchill highlighted his ability to provoke and engage with public discourse. The plaque will mark his childhood home in the suburbs of London.
The blue plaques scheme, which celebrates the link between significant figures of the past and the buildings in which they lived and worked, runs on public suggestions. English Heritage said all blue plaques were subject to full property owner approval.
Philippines storm survivors join climate protest outside Shell HQ in London
Текст: For two days and two nights, Ronalyn Carbonel and her four children clung to the roof of their home as a huge storm raged around them. With the wind battering her village of Rizal, about 10 miles east of Manila in the Philippines, and water swirling through the rooms below them, they had no choice but to wait, hoping that someone would come to rescue them and hundreds of their neighbours.
“We did not have shelter, we did not have food … we just had to wait for the government for two days,” Carbonel said. “It is not easy, no electricity, no light, we just wait for the sun to rise. The children were scared, we had never experienced anything like this.”
Carbonel was speaking to the Guardian as
Greenpeace activists and youth leaders from the Philippines protested outside the oil firm Shell’s headquarters in London on Wednesday demanding “accountability from major polluters and justice for all the loss and damage they have caused”.
The Philippines has always been hit by typhoons, but as the climate emergency has worsened the storms have become more violent, with more destructive winds and floods.
Last year in a record-breaking typhoon season, six storms battered the country in just a month. The super-typhoon Man-yi brought winds of up to 120mph and drove more than 650,000 people from their homes. In all, the storm season –
“supercharged” by climate change, according to experts – affected more than 13 million people, destroyed lives and livelihoods and
cost an estimated $500m.
Carbonel, who is president of her local homeowners association, said the storms had grown much worse since she was younger. “When I was a child I did not experience this type of strong typhoon,” she said. “We are scared but we are already preparing, we prepare food and medicines and water.”
A sofa belonging to Carbonel was one of the climate-wrecked household items put in giant glass boxes filled with water outside Shell’s headquarters on Wednesday. The possessions, which also included a television, shoes and a teddy bear, had all been destroyed in the latest typhoon season.
As Shell staff arrived for work, speakers played the sounds of children laughing, and people cooking or watching TV, which had been recorded in the Philippines. Those noises were then replaced with sirens like those used in the Philippines to warn people of impending floods.
Activists then smashed the glass cases, allowing the “flood” waters to spill out in front of the building.
Greenpeace UK’s climate campaigner, Maja Darlington, said: “The world is near breaking point and it is oil and gas giants like Shell, who pocket tens of billions every year from burning fossil fuels that drive this climate chaos, that are to blame. It’s time they coughed up and paid their climate debts.”
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Bon Gibalay, a youth leader from Bohol in the Philippines,
who was part of the protest, said: “For far too long communities like mine have weathered climate impact after climate impact, while companies like Shell continue to profit from fuelling the climate crisis. By delivering these precious possessions, damaged and destroyed by typhoons supercharged by the climate crisis, from the Philippines directly by the doors of Shell, we demand accountability from major polluters and justice for all the loss and damage they have caused.”
During the latest storms, Carbonel’s house was spared the worst damage and she spent the night walking the streets warning neighbours through a loudhailer. Ten families whose homes were badly hit sheltered in her home until the storm receded.
With a few months to go before the next storm season is due, she says all she can do is hope the world takes notice and the big oil companies take responsibility for what they are doing.
“How can we ask those kind of people to pay? They are in government, in big companies, they are powerful, they are rich. For someone like me, what can I do? I just tell my children don’t worry, just pray to God [that the next] typhoon will miss us. I just tell them to pray.”
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