Beckenham Place, the property on Stumps Hill, was described by Dr Samuel Johnson as "one of the finest places at which I was ever a guest and where I find more and more a hospitable welcome" And the man? "Cator has a rough, manly, independent understanding and does not spoil it by complaisance. He never speaks merely to please and is seldom mistaken in things which he has any right to know" The town of Beckenham today owes much to the 18th century John Cator of Beckenham Place!