Plaque to honour Ally Pally publicist (From Haringey Independent)

Plaque to honour Ally Pally publicist Walter James MacQueen-Pope

2:50pm Tuesday 29th June 2010 in Alexandra Palace By Elizabeth Pears

A PUBLICIST who helped to reinvent Alexandra Palace as a hub of entertainment in the 1920s will be honoured with a green plaque outside his former Muswell Hill home.

Walter James MacQueen-Pope (1888 - 1960), known to many as MacQueen-Pope, had built up a long career managing some of London's best-loved theatre's including the Globe, the Lyric and the Royal Opera House.

The role he played in shaping Haringey's most famous building has helped the Hornsey-born former resident to join the ranks of some of the borough's noted and often unsung former residents as part of a community-led scheme to celebrate the area's rich cultural history.

Under the scheme, run in partnership with Haringey Council, ex-ANC leader Oliver Thambo and Victorian poet Coventry Patmore have received plaques.

In 1922, MacQueen-Pope, of 33, Etheldene Avenue, beat thousands of rivals to be named the manager of the landmark site when Ally Pally trustees advertised the position.

It was under his influence that the palace started to hold large well-attended concerts using contacts from his enviable little black book.

MacQueen-Pope, an ex-Tollington School pupil, lived in Muswell Hill for 23 years with his wife, Stella, and their daughter.

The plaque, the eleventh so far, will be erected tomorrow at his former home.