Dorset Square is the centre of a quiet little enclave of Georgian terraces between Marylebone Station and Baker Street. From 1787 to 1811 it was the site of Thomas Lord’s first cricket ground before he decamped to St John’s Wood, and the square was named after the Duke of Dorset, an early cricket fanatic.

The original Georgian houses of the 1820s with their plain, elegant yellow brick facades, fanlights and wrought iron balconies are remarkably complete. George Grossmith, the actor and author (with his brother Weedon) of the classic Diary of a Nobody, and Dodie Smith, creator of 101 Dalmations, are remembered by blue plaques, as is ‘Mr Blue Plaque’ himself, Sir Laurence Gomme.

But probably the most historically important residents of Dorset Square were the Free French, who were headquartered at No 1 during the War. Hundreds of agents set out from here to occupied France to work for liberation, many going to their deaths.