Chatting with Sarah about the fact that the writer of the Star Spangled Banner came from where she used to live, I thought I'd use the wonder of Google to see which famous people were born in my current and past homestead of Putney.

The answer is... not a lot. The author of the renowned historical work, The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon, is perhaps the most distinguished. Heroic endeavour is represented by Captain Lawrence Oates, a member of Scott's ill-fated attempt to discover the South Pole. 'I am just going outside, and I may be some time' is the legendary (and possibly paraphrased) quote attributed to him on the occasion of his noble self-sacrifice.

Pop fans of a (slightly) more recent generation may be delighted to learn that Anthony "Ant" Philips, guitarist in Genesis's original line-up, is also a Putneyista.

More interesting, maybe (though primarily to Britishers, I'll admit), are the names of people buried in the cemetery at Putney Vale. Sculptor Sir Jacob Esptein, newsreader Reginald Bosanquet, actors Donald Pleasance, Nyree Dawn Porter and Jon Pertwee, folkie Sandy Denny, racing drivers James Hunt and Dick Seaman, cricketers James Laker, Alf Gover and Len Hutton, archaeologist Howard Carter, comedians Joan Sims and Arthur Askey, author Enid Blyton, spy and homosexual Anthony Blunt, and film director David Lean. Almost worth a pilgrimage...