John Stanley Coombe Beard

[6] In July 1937, when he was living in Hampstead, a telephone call made by his wife about an attempted burglary resulted in the first arrest attributable to the new 999 emergency number.

[9][10] One architectural historian has judged Beard's cinemas as "excellent, if stylistically slightly eccentric".

It was baroque in style, with a terra-cotta façade rich in detail and a panelled auditorium with columns topped by nude statues.

The entrance was squeezed between two shops; the auditorium ran parallel to the street in the rear, and had a dome which could be opened to vent cigarette smoke.

It closed for good in November 1960; the stage became a recording studio and the auditorium, after being used as storage for many years, became a bingo hall and then a nightclub.

[19] The style was Beaux Arts, and the façade, with a billiard hall and shops on either side as part of the same scheme, was white ceramic with red brickwork and apple-green tiles around the entrance.

The interior was Classical, with four private boxes provided at the request of the Royal Family; it was near Buckingham Palace and the Prince of Wales, especially, frequently saw films there.

The building was extensively remodelled in 1966 as the Westminster Theatre Arts Centre and was largely destroyed by fire during demolition in 2002.

Beard retained the rear and south side walls of the Electric Palace, the older cinema previously on the site.

The style was neo-classical, with oak panelling in the foyer and auditorium; the facade was of white glazed tile with blue and gold accents.

There was a stage 10 feet deep and four dressing rooms, and in the 1920s there were variety performances and live broadcasts by the BBC and recordings of community sing-alongs to Frank Westfield's orchestra.

[25] The cinema closed in December 1981 and after standing empty for some time, was converted into a pub; it was one of the Australian-themed Walkabout chain[24] until October 2013, when the building was sold.

In 1979, under the ownership of Classic Cinemas, the building was twinned with a smaller 213 seat auditorium built in the roof.

[32] It closed in 1972 and became a carpet showroom and then a music studio, then was demolished, but the façade was saved and is on display nearby.

After standing empty for 10 years, it was demolished in 1990 and replaced in 1992 with a new development which includes a duplex cinema, the Screen Walton-on-Thames.

[42] It opened in 1929 with 1,709 seats,[43] usherettes dressed as Cleopatra, a symphony orchestra and a new-model Compton organ with a full range of percussion.

[44][45] The lobby was in modern style and had two box offices with automatic indicators showing what seats were available, and there was a central air purification, heating and cooling system.

The style was Italian Renaissance or classical with touches of Romanesque, and the auditorium had an 80-foot coffered dome in the ceiling and pastoral scenes on the walls.

[47] Pevsner refers to "a prominent bowed foyer articulated by giant-order Corinthian columns and Olympiad bronze torches".

[48] This was the first of three Forums designed by Beard for Herbert A. Yapp's Wyanbee Theatres, a small circuit taken over by ABC in 1935, the others being Ealing and Kentish Town.

The style was Art Deco, with a façade of white tile on either side of a brick section with three tall windows[56] surmounted by a polychrome frieze.

It opened later the same year and is now a Grade II listed building, used as a music performance space and once more called the Forum.

It was in Art Deco style; the splay walls on either side of the screen featured grilles with a design of fishes.

Beard designed it with Bennett in Art Deco style; the façade was of cream faience tiles and had three large windows in the centre.

The façade was brick with a central section of terracotta tiles surrounding a large window.

A stream ran under the cinema and a serious flood in 1968 damaged the organ, which had been in regular use; it was repaired but in 1979 was sold to Gunton Hall Country Club in Suffolk.

[67] It was intended as a luxury cinema for showing classic films,[68] and the building also housed the head offices of the chain.