Things you didn't know about... East Ham

The parks of East Ham helped us win the 1966 Football World Cup
1966 England football captain Bobby Moore grew up in East London and played as a child in the East Ham parks Flanders Field and Priory Park.

East Ham is the birthplace of a wartime legend
On 20 March 1917 Vera Welch was born in East Ham. Seven years later she began singing in her local working men's club, and by World War II she had taken her grandmother's maiden name, becoming "Forces Sweetheart" Vera Lynn.

There are two white horses running around East Ham
The first is a life-size statue above a Chinese restaurant on Barking Road. East Ham locals say that the building used to be occupied by a vet, a profession that commonly used horses as emblems to advertise their practice. The second is above a building on East Ham High Street where it meets White Horse Road, and is from an old fairground roundabout.

Swinging London would not have been the same without East Ham
Iconic photographer David Bailey moved to Heigham Road, East Ham, when his family home in Leytonstone was destroyed by a bomb in World War II. He went on to photograph everyone from The Beatles to the Krays and inspired the cult 1960s movie Blow Up.

East Ham is strongly associated with the wives of King Henry VIII
There is a local legend that Henry conducted his fatal courtship of Anne Boleyn in East Ham, in a house at the end of Green Street, where the Boleyn Pub now stands. There are also modern streets in East Ham named after each of the King's other wives: Seymour, Cleeves, Parr, Aragon and Howard.

A piece of iconic football artwork has its home in East Ham
Where Barking Road meets Central Park Road there is an enormous statue celebrating England's victory in the 1966 football World Cup. Many a pilgrimage has been made to this East Ham junction, where heroes Bobby More, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peter and Ray Wilson are depicted as larger than life.

East Ham is actually home to the West Ham United football ground
The Boleyn Ground, or Upton Park as it is now more commonly known, has been the home of West Ham United since 1904. It is actually on the outskirts of East Ham.

Secret pamphlets used to be printed in East Ham
In the 16th century, the Jesuit missionaries Campion and Parsons set up a secret printing press in East Ham. They arrived to preach in 1580, disguised as jewel thieves. After a year, Campion was executed, while Parsons managed to flee England.