Captain James Cook

The spot where Captain James Cook lived in Mile End is easy to miss if you're not looking for it. There's a modest blue plaque on the house at 88 Mile End Road - the kind of marker London throws at half the buildings in the city - but this one marks the home of a man who charted the Pacific and changed how the world understood geography.

Cook lived here for a decade with his wife Elizabeth, raising their children between expeditions. It's not a museum with entrance fees or guided tours. You're looking at a private residence from the street, reading the plaque, and that's it. Some people find that underwhelming. Others quite like the intimacy of it - the thought of this explorer, fresh back from months at sea, walking these same streets in Mile End.

History types will get the most from seeking it out. You need to know who Cook was and why he mattered to get anything from standing outside a Georgian terraced house. Kids will get bored within thirty seconds.

If you're staying at Lovat Parks nearby, it's worth a short drive or a bus ride to tick off, especially if you're doing a London history trail. Allow five minutes maximum. Go when you like - it's there whether it's raining or brilliant sunshine. Just don't expect much beyond the plaque. The real Cook legacy is in the maps he made, not in the brickwork of Mile End.