📍43 Waverley Gardens, Barking IG11, UK
1941 – 1962“I was born at Barking Hospital in April 1941, during the Blitz, and grew up at 43 Waverley Gardens, a neat terraced council house in Barking, on the eastern edge of London, the only child of Robert and Doris, whom everyone called Doss. My parents doted on me, and our home was warm and orderly; my mother ironed my football laces. I went to Westbury School on Ripple Road, and later to Tom Hood School in Leyton. I spent every spare hour kicking a ball about with my dad and my uncle on Greatfields Park, round the corner from our house. I wasn't the most naturally gifted boy, and I was not especially fast, but I worked harder than anyone, and I learned to read the game, to anticipate where the ball was going and to be in the right place. At sixteen I joined West Ham United's ground staff, where the senior professional Malcolm Allison took me under his wing and taught me how to think about football. I turned professional a year later, in 1958, and made my first-team debut, in Allison's place, the same year. I was still living at Waverley Gardens when I made my England debut in 1962. I became England's youngest captain at twenty-two, and in 1966, at Wembley, I lifted the World Cup. Pelé called me the greatest defender he ever played against. In 2016, 43 Waverley Gardens became the first home of a footballer to receive an English Heritage blue plaque, unveiled by my daughter, Roberta, a proud moment for Barking.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today