Meet the time bandits

As the Open Plaques project is all about connecting past and present, time is bound into its DNA. Walking around our streets, the past is sometimes obvious but frequently less so. How we bridge that gap has got me thinking about the legacy of imaginative time travellers themselves. So first, let’s jump back 29 years…

“Kevin is an 11-year-old boy whose parents ignore him in favour of keeping up with the neighbours by purchasing all the latest gadgets. Without their attention, Kevin has become a history buff, particularly of the Ancient Greek period. One night, Kevin is awakened from his sleep by a knight on horseback bursting through his wardrobe and riding off into a forest that has appeared in place of his bedroom wall.”

Source Wikipedia, re Time Bandits – (dir. Terry Gilliam, 1981)

Just as the film Time Bandits (one of my all-time faves) opened with an unexpected leap as people from another dimension sprang though the young protagonist’s wardrobe, so several plaques in our still-growing database commemorate people – mostly artists – known for their time-bending, time-suspending, time-setting and time-refining works.

Here’s some of the plaques I’ve discovered from the UK’s time bandit alumni. I can update this post with other examples suggested by you – and when more are added to our database (and photos are added via Flickr to the corresponding Open Plaques page for each person).

So let’s meet them…

HG Wells – author (1866 – 1946)

Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary. Together with Jules Verne, Wells has been referred to as “The Father of Science Fiction”. Some of his works include The Shape Of Things To Come, The Island of Dr Moreau, The War Of The Worlds, and The Time Machine. [source: Wikpedia]

Aldous Huxley – novelist (1894 – 1963)

Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. He spent the later part of his life in the United States, living in Los Angeles from 1937 until his death in 1963. Best known for his novels including Brave New World [set in the London of AD 2540] and wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel writing, and film stories and scripts. [source: Wikpedia] Other works include Point Counter Point (1928), Eyeless In Gaza (1936) and The Doors Of Perception (1954).

C.S. Lewis – novelist (1898 – 1963)

Clive Staples Lewis, commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as Jack, was an Irish-born British novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist. He is also known for his fiction, especially The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia and The Space Trilogy. [source: Wikpedia]

George Orwell – writer (1903 – 1950)

Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist. His work is marked by keen intelligence and wit, a profound awareness of social injustice, an intense, revolutionary opposition to totalitarianism, a passion for clarity in language and a belief in democratic socialism. [source: Wikpedia] Among his best known works are Nineteen Eighty Four, Animal Farm and Homage to Catalonia.

JM (James) Barrie – writer (1860 – 1937)

Sir James Matthew Barrie was a Scottish author and dramatist. He is best remembered for creating Peter Pan, the boy who refused to grow up, whom he based on his friends, the Llewelyn Davies boys. He is also credited with popularising the name Wendy, which was very uncommon before he gave it to the heroine of Peter Pan. [source: Wikpedia]

Thomas Earnshaw – watchmaker (1749 – 1829)

Earnshaw was an English watchmaker who… further simplified the process of marine chronometer production, making them available to the general public. He’s also known for his improvements to the transit clock at the Royal Greenwich Observatory and his invention of a chronometer escapement and a form of bimetallic compensation balance. Although, he was principly a watchmaker, he didn’t shy away from building clocks… he produced a clock for the Armagh Observatory, which is recognised by horologists today as one of the world’s most important clocks. [source: Wikpedia]

Madame Marie Tussaud – artist in Wax (1761 – 1850)

Dr. Philippe Curtius taught Tussaud the art of wax modelling; she showed a lot of talent and started to work for him. In 1778, she created her first wax figure, that of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. She later modelled other famous personages, such as Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin… Tussaud was arrested during the Reign of Terror… Among others, she made death masks of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Marat, and Robespierre… In 1835, she established her first permanent exhibition in Baker Street. [source: Wikpedia]

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[This post was inspired by a plaque for "inventor of time travel" Jacob von Hogflume - but that's another story I'll come to]