Siblings Ken, Pat, Maivis and Brian Dudley - who were 11, nine, five and three at the time of the blast - lost their dad and uncle and were at the plaque ceremony.

Ken and his sister Pat were evacuated but the rest of the family were at Oval Tube station when the siren sounded.

But, because of overcrowding, the family went to Balham to shelter.

Pat said: “Ken and I been evacuated out of London the day before, leaving Maivis and Brian at home with my mum Florence and dad Frederick. On the night they were with my uncle Bert and auntie Maud and their daughter Sheila, who was four.

Pat said: “They were all on the platform but just before the bomb hit my dad and uncle went to get some cigarettes or chocolates. They died in the blast and I don’t know how my mum and auntie got the children back above ground. How did they get three children out of there in the dark?

“My dad and uncle were not found for weeks and my mum didn’t tell Brian and me that dad had died until the next Easter.”

Maivis and Ken both contracted pneumonia that night. Maivis, who was just three at the time, said: “I remember being lifted in the air and water coming down all around me, it is my earliest memory.”

The bodies of their dad and uncle were not found for weeks. They were eventually buried on December 23.

Another present at the plaque ceremony was Dennis Battams. He was eight-years-old when the bomb fell. He said: “I was forced to shelter in the Saxona shoe shop in the High Road because the station was too full. When I came out of the building I could see the bus on the edge of the crater. It stayed like that for 10 minutes before it fell in.”