Historic England - Harry Beck

It would be much more difficult to find our way around the London Underground system today if it wasn't for Beck. In the 1930s he created the Tube Map as we see it today and was paid just five guineas for his life's work, which was then used by international cities as a basis for their own underground maps. The only acknowledgement of his vital contribution is a plaque on Finchley station!

Places to visit

London Transport Museum, London
Find out more about Beck’s brilliant design here as well as searching out the history of the city’s great transport network.  See trams and trolley buses and ‘drive’ an Underground train.

Tate Modern, London
Head to Tate Modern for Simon Patterson’s fun interpretation of the Underground Map. Called The Great Bear, it involves a map version in which the names of stations are substituted with those of philosophers, film stars, explorers, saints and other celebrities, past and present.