==plaquerama== 
 Copied and impertinently pasted: 
 Sorry! Meant to write English Heritage but my politically correct subconcious got the better of me. The main criteria that most appeals to me re. this issue is, of course, the following: 
 In order to be eligible for an English Heritage blue plaque, a figure must have been dead for twenty years or have passed the centenary of their birth. 
    

 "Politically correct" and "subconscious", ugh and ugh respectively. Can we perhaps call the mostly united queendom "Blighty"? Or anything other than "the Youkay", please.) "English Heritage" is a daft name and one horribly reminiscent of some far-right US "think tank"; I prefer the old Ministry of Works. 

 That criterion appeals to me too. I think it's a little harsh, but would happily limit not just this list but also qualification for a biographical article to people who have been dead for ten years or be over sixty years old; this would handily weed out the ephemeral and the self- or buddy-promoting. 

 But that's just fantasy talk. Any attempt to rule out participants in "reality" TV shows, members of "boy bands", people who kick balls around for a living, Playboy "playmates", etc would be met with (a) howls of protest, and, more significantly, (b) failure. (And I suppose that even I would want to let in people like Obama and Blair. No offence meant to Nippy Noya, who I think qualifies on the strength of his name alone.) More specifically, any attempt to apply the Ministry of Works criterion alone for notability of place of residence/birth/death/work would fail too. How about something like this (for Blighty): 

 #The person must have their own article (not merely a redirect); AND 
 #The period of residence (etc) (and degree of ignorance) is clearly specified (not "lived in Teddington" but "lived in Teddington from 1753 or earlier until 1765 or later"); AND 
 #At least one of the following criteria must be met (and documented): 
 ##There is a Ministry of Works blue plaque; 
 ##There is a plaque affixed by a charity or disinterested and noncommercial organization known for affixing plaques; 
 ##There is a tomb, tombstone, or equivalent; 
 ##The location of residence, birth, death, work, etc, is described (and not merely mentioned) in a biographical work on the person.