Toast the City: Why we love the Francis Barber Blue Plaque at Dr Johnson’s House

As the Toast the City Awards approaches, we re looking at some of the cultural highlights in the Square Mile that could take home a coveted Slice of Toast. Today we look at Finalist Dr Johnson s House and the new Blue Plaque for his brilliant mentee Francis Barber. Doctor Johnson’s House is a worthy Finalist in our Toast the City Awards. But did you know there is another fascinating cultural figure linked to the site – and that you can visit it right now? Dr Samuel Johnson will be a name recognisable to many – he was a writer, critic and lexicographer perhaps best known for writing A Dictionary of the English Language in 1755, an incredibly important work that helped define the way the English language was thought of and studied. He resided at what we now call Dr Johnson’s House in Gough Square in Fleet Street Quarter, a Grade I-listed late 17th-century building that he rented for 11 years (it became a museum in 1912). Dro Johnson’s House was the first landmark in the City of