Creating a Design Classic: Harry Beck and the London Underground Map
Mark Kleinman
- Regions:
- East of England, London, Surrey, Kent
- Notice Period:
- Regular (more than one month's notice)
- Fee:
- Expensed: Standard Class rail travel or equivalent
- Category:
- Travel
- Updated:
- 30th June 2026
Every day, thousans of people rely on the Tube Map to get about one of the world's great cities, thousands more around the world recognise instantly, other cities have copied its style; it continues to inspire artists and creators. And it isn't even a map, in the usual sense of a topologically accurate representation of physical reality. It was created by Harry Beck, a temporary draughtsman for London Underground, who refined and improved his Diagram for decades. Harry Beck never received the full recognition that was his due in his lifetime, but today the London Underground Map is recognised as a design classic.
Views: 9 | Enquiries: 0About Mark Kleinman
I am a writer, speaker and researcher, based in Cambridge and London. As a Museum Ambassador and Tour Guide at the Brunel Museum in Rotherhithe, London I tell the story of the Thames Tunnel, the first tunnel under a river anywhere in the world and the stories of its creators, Marc Isambard Brunel and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel. I am also a Discover Volunteer at the Imperial War Museum Duxford and a Visitor Experience Volunteer at the Centre for Computing History in Cambridge.
Previously I have held a number of UK academic posts, including at the University of Cambridge, the London School of Economics and King’s College London, as well as visiting appointments at the University of Toronto and the University of New South Wales. I have written four books and more than 100 published papers, and I have given many talks and presentations across the UK, and in Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, China and Japan.
Other Talks on SpeakerNet by Mark Kleinman
- ‘Inventor of Ingenious Machines’: Life and Career of Sir Marc Isambard Brunel (1769-1849)
- The Brunels, the Thames Tunnel and the East London Railway: the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’
- A Brief History of Computing: from Babbage and Lovelace to the smartphone and the World Wide Web.
- Marc Isambard Brunel’s American Adventures 1793-1799
- The Voyage of the Mayflower: how a Rotherhithe sea captain took the 'Pilgrim Fathers' to America
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