London

William Henry Pratt (aka Boris Karloff)
36 Forest Hill Rd, East Dulwich
Karloff was born not in the laboratory of a remote eastern European castle on a stormy night, but in leafy Dulwich into a respectable family of diplomats. Though famous for playing a grunting monster made of reassembled body parts, he was in fact a thoroughly well-spoken Englishman: mild-mannered, a keen cricketer and gardener. His birthplace is now a Turkish restaurant, with an entrance adorned by Karloffian memorabilia.
Monster rating Karloff turned out as Frankenstein’s monster three times, in the 1931 original, ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ in 1935 and ‘Son of Frankenstein’ in 1939. 7/10 Feature continues

Bram Stoker
18 St Leonard’s Terrace, SW3
Dublin-born Stoker settled in London after becoming manager of celebrated actor Henry Irving. He was living here in Chelsea when he came up with ‘Dracula’ in 1897, one of the most influential horror novels ever written, after suffering ‘nightmarish dreams from eating too much dressed crab’.
Monster rating For inspiring genius from ‘Count Duckula’ to ‘Buffy’ to The Cramps, this man deserves our love and acclaim. 9/10

Edgar Allan Poe
172 Stoke Newington Church St, N16
American horror writer famous for his tales of the macabre such as ‘The Raven’ and ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ (both spoofed by ‘The Simpsons’). Poe went to school in Stokey for three years when his family briefly moved to England. The building is now the Fox Reformed wine bar. There’s also a plaque next door inside the Stoke Newington library, but it’s not as good as this effort. ‘Edgar Allan Poe’ is also the title of a song in ‘Snoopy The Musical’.
Monster rating Edgar Allan Poe is a bit stodgy, but if it’s good enough for ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘Snoopy’… 7/10

Charles Laughton
15 Percy St, W1
Scarborough boy Laughton briefly lived in central London, ten years before his turn as Quasimodo in ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’. Laughton is also caricatured as the villain in ‘Asterix And The Golden Sickle’.
Monster rating It’s not really a horror film, but nobody makes friends by being pedantic, especially if they are hunchbacks. 4/10

Mary Shelley
24 Chester Square, SW1
Shelley wrote ‘Frankenstein’ – a novel that’s even more boring than ironic David Hasselhoff appreciation – after spending time in the company of a group of writers (including hubby Percy The Pet) who were competing to come up with the best ghost story. This was the winner, which makes you wonder how bad the rest were.
Monster rating It’s a pretty horrific read, that’s for sure. Interesting fact: the monster was a vegetarian. 5/10

Robert Louis Stevenson
Abernethy House, Mount Vernon, NW3
Scottish novelist who wrote ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’, about a sort of proto-Incredible Hulk, in 1886, much of which is set in London. Stevenson died in 1894 after bursting a blood vessel in his brain while straining to open a bottle of wine.
Monster rating ‘Hyde and Hare’, the Bugs Bunny version of ‘Jekyll and Hyde’, has been described as the ‘crowning achievement of liberal democracy’ (by us). 10/10