AS JEAN Warr worked as a tourist guide in Oxford, the blue plaques around the city caught her eye.

Mrs Warr, who started out as a guide 17 years ago, decided to find out more about the famous names on the plaques so that she could keep visitors fully informed.

Then she realised that the plaques provided so many interesting stories that they would make a fascinating subject for a book.

Now, The Oxford Plaque Guide, the first detailed account of more than 80 plaques and memorials, is being published by The History Press.

Mrs Warr, of Kingston Bagpuize, near Abingdon, said: “I started on the open-top buses and now I do general tours, a Magic, Murder and Mayhem tour, and tours for French students. Oxford has a fascinating history.

“It is the people who have lived lived in the city who make its story interesting.”

Figures Mrs Warr researched include Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke and Edmund Halley, members of the 17th century scientific elite, and authors CS Lewis and Tolkien.

The plaque at Oxford University sports ground where Roger Bannister ran his four-minute mile in 1954 also gets a mention.

The mother-of-two, who works as a Blue Badge Guide linking up with the tourist information centre, wrote in the book’s introduction: “Although the guide is primarily about people, some of the entries refer to momentous events, buildings and structures.

“Memorials, crosses, clocks, statues, all these and more, are offered to readers to reveal their histories.

Plaques includ one at Oxford Town Hall which reminds the public about the dispossessed Jewish community in the 13th century, and the Cutteslowe Walls, a barrier dividing communities in the 1930s.

All the personalities in Mrs Warr’s book are real apart from one, TV detective Inspector Morse, the creation of north Oxford author Colin Dexter, who wrote the foreword to the book. His blue plaque is outside St Aldate’s police station.

Apart from the plaque above the entrance to the Bodleian Library, which is in a quad, all the plaques and memorials are visible from the street.

Mrs Warr welcomed the support of the Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board, chaired by Dr Kate Tiller, and backed by the Oxford Civic Society.

Hugo Brunner, Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire from 1996 to 2008, started the scheme and was its first chairman.

The Oxford Plaque Guide is published by The History Press, price £9.99. It is on sale from August 30.