Street “legend” Horace White is seen smiling in one of the last pictures taken of him before his sudden death.

The 54-year-old collapsed outside Whittington Hospital, in Archway, on his way to an appointment yesterday (Monday).

Doctors fought for almost two hours to save the popular man but he was pronounced dead overnight.

A Facebook page remembering the overwhelmingly famous figure has received nearly 5,000 ‘Likes’, while an online petition to have a bench installed in his memory has gathered 2,000 web signatures.

An extremely well known face around the North Finchley area, Horace was best known for wishing people the “best of luck” as he hung around outside shops in the High Road for more than three decades.

Mother-of-two Esther Hodges had not seen the enigmatic character “for years” before bumping into him in Sainsbury’s in the High Road on Friday.

She said: “He said hello and remembered my name and everything. I asked him ‘can I please take a picture of you?’ as I hadn’t seen him in so long.

“I’m so glad I did because the next thing I hear on Monday was that he had died – I couldn’t believe it. He was an icon, a gentle giant.

“The last thing he said to me before I left was ‘best of luck Mrs Hodges’.”

Funeral arrangements are expected to be announced later this week.

Did you know Horace? Leave your tributes below.