Erected outside the abodes that once housed the great and the good, some are more of a novelty than others. Did you know, for example, that alongside Yeats, Freud and Mozart are plaques dedicated to a clown, a bare-knuckle boxer and a chap who, rather whimsically, named clouds?

There are currently 882 official blue plaques in existence across Greater London, erected by the bodies that have successively run the scheme: the Royal Society of Arts, the London County Council, the Greater London Council and English Heritage.

The area with the most number of blue plaques, according to English Heritage, is the City of Westminster. Shortly behind are the boroughs of Camden and Kensington & Chelsea, all in a tight race for second place.

The London blue plaques scheme was first mooted more than 150 years ago. The MP William Ewart – also famed as the founding father of public libraries – asked in the House of Commons whether "it may be practicable to have inscribed on those houses in London which have been inhabited by celebrated persons, the names of such persons". Ewart has since been commemorated under the scheme that he suggested.

Not all blue plaques are blue. In the early years of the London scheme, brown, terracotta, green, bronze and lead plaques were put up. Different shapes, including squares and rectangles, have also been used.

Installation of the plaques was suspended from 1915-19 and 1940-7 due to wartime economies. A notable exception was made in 1942 for Vladimir Lenin – a gesture of solidarity with the Soviet Union, Britain’s wartime ally. The plaque was later lost to demolition.

Below we catalogue some of London's more unusual blue plaques:

1. Luke Howard: Namer of Clouds

Perhaps the most admired occupation described on a plaque is found on Tottenham High Road (at 7 Bruce Grove), for Luke Howard: ‘Namer of Clouds’. An amateur meteorologist, Howard proposed a nomenclature system for clouds in a 1802 presentation to the Askesian Society.

2. Tom Cribb: bare knuckle fighter

Tom Cribb was publican of the Union Arms and Briton's bare-knuckle boxing champion between 1809 and 1822. The pub, which still stands on the site today, changed its name to Tom Cribb to honour the fighter's career, and the interior celebrates his successes.

Tom Cribb: bare knuckle fighter

3. Thomas Cobden-Sanderson: founder of Dove Press

A friend of William Morris, Cobden-Sanderson was involved with the Arts and Crafts movement, who became a bookbinder before starting the press, creating the Doves Type font. In a moment of pique over the rights of the press however, he threw the type into the river, destroying all remnants of the font. That was until this year, when a search of the riverbed revealed pieces of the type which was then meticulously recreated.

4. Alfred Hitchcock: director

The film director and master of suspense, known for an inimitable run of classic cinema including Pyshco and Vertigo, lived in South Kensington from 1926-1939, during which he directed The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes. By 1940, he had moved out and upwards, making his first Hollywood production, Rebecca.

5. Anna Maria Garthwaite: silk designer

Garthwaite's floral silks were hand-woven in Spitalfields. She developed more than 1,000 designs there at a time when silks from the market were widely exported to Northern Europe and Colonial America.

6. Joseph Grimaldi: clown

Known for his physical comedy, Grimaldi as clown became the main character in the Harlequinades performed in the early 19th century. He was responsible for encouraging pantomime audiences to sing and would taunt them with popular catchphrases including the teasing, "Shall I?", to which the crowd would all shout "Yes!"

Joseph Grimaldi: clown

7. George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf: Playwright and author

One of the few houses with two plaques in London, this pair lived here at seperate times. Bernard Shaw set up home from 1887 to 1898. His plaque reads, "From the coffers of his genius he enriched the world". Woolf, meanwhile, resided in this very literary spot from 1907-1911.

8. Jimi Hendrix and George Frideric Handel: rock musician and composer

Jimi Hendrix is one half of what is probably the most famous Blue Plaque juxtaposition of all, alongside George Frideric Handel on Brook Street, Mayfair. "To tell you the God's honest truth, I haven't heard much of the fella's stuff," was Hendrix's reported comment regarding his neighbour.

9. Lord Byron: poet

The first London blue plaque commemorated Lord Byron, the poet, in 1867. His house in Holles Street, Cavendish Square, was demolished in 1889; its site is now occupied by the John Lewis store, as the Google Street View shows.

10. Napoleon III: French Emperor

The oldest official plaque still in existence in London is that to the French Emperor Napoleon III, in King Street, St James’s.

11. Agatha Christie: author

There are a number of plaques to people with disabilities, including Agatha Christie, who had dyslexia and epilepsy.

12. Vincent Van Gogh: painter

Van Gogh, who had bipolar disorder, lived in London from 1873-75, arriving to work for international art dealer Goupil & Cie in Covent Garden. The plaque commemorates his years in a humble room at 87 Hackford Road in Brixton, where he may have fallen in love with his landlady’s daughter.

13. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: composer

Mozart had Tourette’s Syndrome. The composer lived, played and composed at 20 Frith Street, W1, and wrote his first symphony in this house in 1764.

14. W.B. Yeats: poet

American poet Sylvia Plath moved into 23 Fitzroy Road, Primrose Hill, because it bore a plaque to Irish poet W.B. Yeats. Her own blue plaque was erected in 2000, in nearby Chalcot Square.

15. Wilkie Collins: author

American poet Sylvia Plath moved into 23 Fitzroy Road, Primrose Hill, because it bore a plaque to Irish poet W.B. Yeats. Her own blue plaque was erected in 2000, in nearby Chalcot Square.

16. Harry Beck: Tube map designer

Much thought is given to the design, lettering and inscriptions used on plaques. Earlier this year, the plaque to the tube map designer Harry Beck was lettered a similar font to that used by London Underground.