Coordinates: 51°28′17″N 0°03′45″W / 51.4714°N 0.0625°W / 51.4714; -0.0625

Peckham ( /ˈpɛkəm/) is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is situated 3.5 miles (5.6 km) south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The 2001 Census recorded a population of 11,381 in the Peckham ward of Southwark and the Office for National Statistics estimated 19,500 residents in the Peckham Community Council area in 2005.

'Peckham' is a Saxon place name meaning the village of the River Peck, a small stream that ran through the district until it was enclosed in 1823. Archaeological evidence indicates earlier Roman occupation in the area, although the name of this settlement is lost.

Peckham appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Pecheham. It was held by the Bishop of Lisieux from the Bishop of Bayeux. Its Domesday assets were: 2 hides. It had land for 1 plough, 2 acres (8,100 m²) of meadow. It rendered £1 10s 0d (£1.50).

Brian Leonard Paddick (born 24 April 1958) is a British politician, and was the Liberal Democrat candidate for the London mayoral election, 2012. He was, until his retirement in May 2007, Deputy Assistant Commissioner in London's Metropolitan Police Service and the United Kingdom's most senior openly gay police officer.

Paddick joined the Metropolitan Police Service in 1976. Rising through the ranks, he was appointed the officer in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Notting Hill in 1995, then returned to New Scotland Yard, first as Superintendent of the Personnel Department in 1996 and then as Chief Superintendent in 1997. In December 2000 he was appointed Police Commander for the London Borough of Lambeth where he worked until 2002.

In the latter capacity, Paddick attracted controversy by instructing his police officers not to arrest or charge people found with cannabis so that they could focus on crimes that were affecting the quality of life in the borough to a greater extent. The situation worsened when The Mail on Sunday published a false story by Paddick's former partner that alleged, among other things, he had used cannabis and was an anarchist^{[citation needed]}. In late 2002 the Crown Prosecution Service decided that no charges would be brought against him, and in December 2003 Paddick and the Mail on Sunday settled legal proceedings brought by him, with the newspaper accepting that the story was false, apologising, and paying damages.