It's all in purple: the celebs who once lived here

Wednesday 16th November 2011

If Keith Chegwin, Kerry Katona or Dappy from N-Duz had once lived in your house, would you want the world to know?

Would they be a marketing tool or something to keep as your guilty secret?

That is for you to decide: Zoopla has come up with a scheme by which it awards ‘purple plaques’ on homes where celebrities once lived – and it wants to enlist the help of agents in locating deserving cases of bricks and mortar.

These, by the way, are ‘real’ plaques as opposed to virtual ones, and so far five out of a possible 80 have been awarded.

The famous five are David Cameron, Gary Barlow, Liz Hurley, Lewis Hamilton and Chris Evans. What, no Katie Price?

Future contenders could be Cheryl Cole (the name rings a faint bell), Rio Ferdinand and Lord Alan Sugar and, of course, the world’s current most famous person, the ever-youthful Nancy Dell’Olio.

Unlike those rather snobby blue heritage plaques, which tend to commemorate famous authors and composers (although a huge row is raging in Surbiton about the blue plaque for a stripper), purple plaques are awarded where the celebs involved haven’t been dead for a minimum of 20 years.
 
“The Zoopla Purple Plaque scheme will honour living celebrities and pay homage to the council flats, terraces, suburban semis and picturesque pads where they have lived,” according to star-struck Zoopla.  
 
We think the minimum requirements will be to have appeared in I’m a Celebrity and/or Strictly, have publicly renounced Botox despite all the evidence, plus you must have done at least one year as the face of Iceland (as in prawn rings and Mum’s gone to).

But do people really want purple plaques on their properties, we asked?

Oh yes, said Zoopla. And apparently agents are keen too: three out of four of you agree that celebrity association will help sell a property.

We suppose it all depends on whether we are commemorating Keith Chegwin or, er, Sir Brucie. And whether you are Knight Frank or Your Move.

Pictured is a beautiful thatched property near Basingstoke (yes, really!) which was once the home of Liz Hurley, who we believe is famous for being seen on the arm of Aussie leg-spinner Shane Warne. 

If you want to nominate a property, go to www.zoopla.co.uk/purpleplaques