Sir Anthony Epstein, 19 West Street
Osney’s first blue plaque was unveiled at 19 West Street on 2 November 2024. It commemorates Sir Anthony Epstein, who lived in the house for the last 38 years of his life until his death in 2024 aged 102.
Sir Anthony was the first person to propose that a cancer in humans was caused by a virus. In 1961 he attended a lecture by Denis Burkitt about a new cancer seen in African children (subsequently named Burkitt’s lymphoma). After 2 years of intensive research on tumour samples, and an element of serendipity, he identified a new herpes virus as the cause of the cancer. He was aided by Dr Bert Achong, his assistant, and Yvonne Barr, graduate researcher. Their joint paper was published in 1964 in The Lancet. The virus was named Epstein–Barr virus (EBV).
This discovery opened up an important new field of research. It also raised the possibility of preventing cancers through vaccination, an advance that has now been achieved in the case of human papilloma and hepatitis B viruses.
Sir Anthony was Professor of Pathology at Bristol University, an Honorary Fellow of Wolfson College, and Vice-President of the Royal Society. He served on boards and councils for numerous national and international research organisations and was also a patron of Humanists UK.
Osney Island 