Harry Beck version of the London Underground diagram. In March 2013 a blue plaque was unveiled on the house where Beck was born, in Wesley Road in Leyton, to mark the 80th anniversary of the Tube map. GB Railfreight named locomotive 66721 after Beck in January 2007. Beck's idea has been emulated by subway, bus and transit companies around the world and many urban rail and metro maps use his principles. He was featured on a BBC2 series called "Map Man" in 2004. Harry Beck Henry Charles Beck (4 June 1902 – 18 September 1974), known as Harry Beck, was an English
Harry Beck given its first full publication in 1933 (700,000 copies). The positive reaction from customers proved it was a sound design, and a large reprint was required after only one month. It is suggested by Degani (2013) that one of the configuration techniques employed by Beck was that of an "underlying grid". In some cases the vertical and horizontal grid units are equalised, but on the whole the grid is rectilinear. The result is a "relaxed grid ... which has a certain rhythm and charm – somewhat similar to the grid used by modern artists (e.g. Piet Mondrian's painting "", 1937–42.)"