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Charlie Chaplin's London - looking for Easy Street

The British Film Institute's Bryony Dixon, reveals the London locations that shaped Charlie Chaplin, 'the most recognisable man in the world'

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Join us online for Westminster Arts Reference Library's 'Artists of London' series. In addition to the talk and a Q+A, each includes a spotlight on a special item from the Library's collection - in this case, an edition of Picture Goer magazine from 1924.

The talk will be held online via Zoom - details will be emailed to you nearer the event.

To mark his 131st birthday, Bryony Dixon explores the almost Dickensian youth of one of the most influential Londoners of all time. Born in East Street in Walworth, Charlie Chaplin lived in many South London locations including Methley Street - the model for his film Easy Street (1917).

He aspired, like others born into the entertainment business, to work in the West End, only a walk away across Westminster Bridge and his great ambition, with brother Syd, was to be rich enough to live in Brixton. Things worked out very differently - his extraordinary career took him from some of the poorest districts of London to some of the most glamorous in Los Angeles. But even as a Hollywood megastar his films and their sets reflected the cityscapes of Victorian London and his youth.