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Adele helped British acts dominate the UK album market last year with their highest share of sales for 15 years

Adele helped British acts dominate the UK album market last year with their highest share of sales for 15 years.

The latest data reveals British acts accounted for almost 53% of album sales in 2011 – up 4% on the previous 12 months.

The astonishing success of Adele's second album 21, and the kickstart it gave to her debut, 19, led the charge. But even without her, sales would have been the highest since 2007, with acts such as Coldplay, Jessie J, Ed Sheeran, Olly Murs and the late Amy Winehouse among those who had shifted more than half a million copies of their releases.

Brits made up 56 of the top 100 biggest-selling album artists, including acts as varied as Plan B, The Vaccines, Kasabian and actor Hugh Laurie with his blues album.

US artists represented almost a third of sales, the lowest share since 1999, but accounting for the second biggest share of acts. Canada was third while Barbados was fourth, solely on the back of Rihanna's success.

In the singles market, the US had the upper hand with almost 44% or all singles sold in the UK, while British stars represented nearly 43%.

Figures were compiled by the Official Charts Company and analysed by the BPI (British Phonographic Industry).

BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor said: "A string of great albums by British artists has delivered the strongest performance in the domestic albums market since the days of Brit Pop and the Spice Girls in 1997."

London's V&A compiles collection of royal portraits from 1939-1968 to help mark year of Queen's diamond jubilee

In 1963, the Queen Mother wrote to Cecil Beaton to thank him for a book he had sent of photographs of the royal family. "I find it nostalgic looking through the pages," she wrote. "The years telescope, and I suddenly remembered what it felt like when I wore those pre-war garden-party clothes – all those years ago."

The V&A in London has assembled a collection of portraits by Beaton taken from 1939 to 1968 as its contribution to the Queen's diamond jubilee.

Though the fairytale atmosphere of his early portraits of the Queen Mother give way to a more sombre style in the late 60s, Beaton still focuses on gowns, crowns and grandeur. A theatre set designer as well as a photographer, in 1945 Beaton shot the young Princess Elizabeth against a painted backdrop of a frozen lake to emphasise her springlike qualities.

Some informality creeps into shots of the Queen with her young children, including a shot of Prince Charles as a toddler kissing the infant Princess Anne, while two others show bomb damage to Buckingham Palace – it was hit nine times in the second world war.

The curator, Susanna Brown, who picked the 100 images out of almost 18,000 in the V&A collection, said the "primary purpose" of Beaton's pictures was to promote the royal family around the world: "They were PR, not family portraits." Underlining this, the exhibition includes notes to the press with details of clothing and embargoes.

One of Beaton's 145 diaries is also on display, describing his anxieties about taking the official photographs for the Queen's coronation, though the lavish images show that he rose to the challenge. Before his final shoot with the Queen in 1968, Beaton fretted in his diary: "The difficulties are great. Our point of view, our tastes are so different. The result is a compromise between two people and the fates play a large part."

Though he continued to photograph members of the royal family until the late 70s, he lost his place as pre-eminent royal photographer to Antony Armstrong-Jones (later Lord Snowdon), who married Princess Margaret in 1960 – "so he was the obvious choice".

"Though [Beaton] greatly respected and admired the Queen, the Queen Mother was his champion and his friend," said Brown, adding that Beaton nonetheless threw himself into the popular culture of the day. "He had a whole new lease of life in his 60s," said Brown. "He was such a pal of Mick Jagger he was nicknamed Rip Van With It."

The Finborough and Landor theatres triumph at the Offies with nine awards between them

The traditional pub theatre has faced an onslaught from unconventional venues in recent years, with theatres popping up in London's vaults, railway arches and disused factories. However, it proved its resilience at last night's Off West End awards – affectionately known as the Offies – with big wins for the Finborough and Landor theatres.

The Finborough in west London picked up five panel awards, including, for the second year running, best artistic director for Neil McPherson. Accolade, which played at the venue last February, was named best production, while Aden Gillet, who starred as benighted author Will Trenting, won best male performance. After her recognition as most promising newcomer at the Critics' Circle Awards, the production also earned Blanche McIntyre the best director award.

Another of McIntyre's productions, Foxfinder, also triumphed, with writer Dawn King picking up the award for most promising new playwright.

McPherson told the Guardian: "The immense support and goodwill the Offies have shown towards the venues that make up the Off West End sector has been a welcome reminder that many people in the profession support our work and our continued existence.

"The success of directors like Blanche and all our other winners certainly goes a very long way towards answering some of the critics who would like to see the entire sector closed down for ever."

Meanwhile, the Landor theatre in Clapham had success in the musical theatre categories. Its production of The Hired Man, directed by Andrew Keates, was named best musical production, and there were three awards, including best ensemble, for the pub theatre's staging of Ragtime.

David Eldridge was awarded best new play for his The Knot of the Heart, at the Almeida Theatre, which starred Lisa Dillon as a television presenter addicted to heroin, while the Print Room won two design awards in the first year it was eligible for the awards.

The panel also presented a special achievement award to Sam Waters, the UK's longest serving artistic director, who last year celebrated his 40th anniversary at the Orange Tree, which he co-founded on 31 December 1971.

Brian Aldiss leads tributes to a prolific author – of The Tripods and more than 50 other novels – who 'beat description'

British science fiction author Samuel Youd, who wrote the prescient story of environmental disaster The Death of Grass under one of his pseudonyms, John Christopher, has died.

Youd passed away on 3 February, his agent said on Monday. The author, best known for his young adult trilogy The Tripods and for The Death of Grass, which tells of a family fleeing London after a virus destroys the world's food supplies – "for years now we've treated the land like a piggy bank, to be raided" – was 89.

"He was a terrific guy. So bright, so intelligent, such a nice man – I have the fondest and most respectful memories of Sam Youd," said the acclaimed science fiction writer Brian Aldiss. "He used to work in the diamond trade in Hatton Garden, and would come down by train, travelling first class. He'd have a portable typewriter with him, and on that typewriter he would write novels, for I believe four different publishers, writing a different sort of novel under a different pseudonym for each. It beats description."

Under names including Hilary Ford, William Godfrey, Peter Graaf, Peter Nichols and Anthony Rye, Youd wrote "science fiction, family histories, detective mysteries – he was amazingly prolific," said Aldiss, with more than 50 titles to his name. His prose was "very polished", added the author, comparing The Death of Grass favourably to John Wyndham's science fiction classic The Day of the Triffids. "He would always submit the first draft and would never revise it – he was so clear-minded that he would get it right the first time".

Born in Knowsley, near Liverpool, in 1922, Youd began writing seriously when he left the army in 1946. The Death of Grass was published in 1956, allowing him to give up his day job at the Industrial Diamond Information Bureau, while The White Mountains, the first book in the Tripods trilogy in which humanity is enslaved by alien machines, was published in 1967. The popular children's series was later adapted for television in the 1980s, and his young adult novel The Guardians, about a dystopian future, won him the Guardian prize for children's fiction.

Penguin Classics publisher Adam Freudenheim, who reissued The Death of Grass in 2009, called it a "seminal piece of science fiction". "It was ahead of its time, in terms of concerns about the environment, particularly, which makes it seem prescient and very relevant," said Freudenheim. "It speaks to our time."

A poster for The Artist Oscar nominee's new film has been removed following fears that Academy voters would disapprove

Posters advertising Jean Dujardin's new comedy, Les Infidèles (The Players), have been replaced after it was suggested that the controversial adverts could adversely affect The Artist star's Oscar chances.

The pictures, which show Dujardin's character holding the spread-eagled legs of an anonymous woman under a caption saying "I'm going into another meeting", were removed from Parisian billboards after the French advertising regulator, the ARPP received a number of complaints about sexism. "The posters have been taken down, and the distributor excused himself – it's over. It's finished," The Artist's producer, Thomas Langmann, told The Hollywood Reporter. He said the near-silent film's makers had "no opinion" on whether the Les Infidèles campaign would damage The Artist's chances.

Dujardin, who won best actor (comedy or musical) at the Golden Globes, is still the favourite to take the home the best actor prize in LA later this month, but the French media had speculated that the use of Dujardin's image in this way would be seen as offensive by Academy voters. A comment piece in Le Parisien warned that America "doesn't joke about this kind of saucy picture", while L'Express compared the Oscar race to a political campaign in which "everyone is ready to exploit the slightest weakness of their adversary".

Les Infidèles consists of a series of vignettes exploring the mindset of an adulterous man. Dujardin's co-star, Gilles Lelouche, has defended the film, telling Premiere magazine that it was the opposite of misogyny.

Dujardin became a star in France thanks to the satirical TV sketch show, Un Gars, Une Fille, which made a point of mocking the often boorish behaviour of Dujardin's character, Jean "Loulou".

Actor set to reprise role as Rick Deckard in Ridley Scott's forthcoming follow-up to his 1982 sci-fi classic, reports say

Harrison Ford is lining up to make a surprise return to the role of Rick Deckard in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner sequel, Twitchfilm reports. Ford is apparently in early talks to return as the replicant nemesis in Scott's forthcoming followup to his 1982 sci-fi classic. If the prediction turns out to be true, it would be even more of a shock than the news in March last year that the veteran British film-maker was to shoot a new Blade Runner film. Scott had dismissed rumours of another Blade Runner film for nearly three decades, and his producer Andrew Kosove denied suggestions Ford might be involved in the new film as recently as last August.

"Twitch has learned that Harrison Ford has entered into early talks to join the new Blade Runner," reports the US site. "While this is still very early stages and it is quite possible that things won't work out the obvious implication is that what we are looking at is not a reboot but a direct sequel to the original."

Based on the 1968 Philip K Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Blade Runner was not a hit at the time but has gathered plaudits over the years. Set in an overpopulated future Los Angeles that never sees the sunlight, Scott's movie is about a "blade runner", played by Ford, who is tasked with hunting down a gang of replicants (android outlaws) who have escaped to Earth from an off-world colony. The film-maker left the audience to decide whether Deckard himself is a replicant.

Negative criticism of the film was largely reversed with the arrival in 1992 of Scott's director's cut, which excised the original's voiceover and a pegged-on "happy ending". Dick never wrote a sequel to the book, so Scott will probably be aiming to produce an original story. Three follow-up novels by Dick's friend, KW Jeter, were written between 1995 and 2000 to try to resolve some of the differences between Blade Runner and its source novel, but they were poorly received.

Prior to working on Blade Runner 2, which may or may not be his next film, Scott will make his long-awaited return to science fiction with Prometheus, a film "set in the same universe" as Alien, his cult 1979 slasher in space. The film, which stars Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace, Guy Pearce and Idris Elba, opens in the UK on 1 June.

The animal rights group instructs supporters to boycott the film after the star told reporters the cast ate wolf meat to get into character

Liam Neeson has come under fire from animal rights group Peta after claiming he ate wolf meat to prepare for his role in the action thriller The Grey. The organisation is calling for a boycott of the film based on Neeson's comments during a press conference and separate claims that director Joe Carnahan ordered wolf carcasses to be used during the making of the movie. The Grey sees the Ballymena-born actor as the leader of a group of oil workers being hunted down by a pack of wolves after surviving a plane crash in Alaska.

Neeson recently told reporters he had tucked in alongside other cast members after Carnahan asked for wolf stew to be prepared on set to help them get into character. "It was very gamey," said the Oscar-nominated actor. "But I'm Irish, so I'm used to odd stews. I can take it. Just throw a lot of carrots and onions in there and I'll call it dinner." Unlike some colleagues who were apparently sick, Neeson said that he had been back for seconds.

"Neeson's stance on kindness to animals is sorely out of step with the rest of the world," said Peta in a statement, insisting that wolves were in fact shy beasts unlikely to target humans rather than the predatory creatures seen in The Grey. The statement added: "Don't just shy away. Run away from The Grey."

Peta also criticised Carnahan for allegedly ordering wolf carcasses from a trapper for use in the film. "Many animals caught in traps chew off their own limbs in order to escape," said spokeswoman Jane Dollinger. "These animals go on to die of gangrene or other secondary infections, sometimes leaving nursing puppies abandoned to fend for themselves."

It is not clear whether any wolves were really killed during the making of The Grey, or whether Neeson and Carnahan are guilty only of making glib comments to that effect. Neither has yet made any public comment on Peta's statement. Another unlikely recent story linked to comments made by the Irish actor suggested he was about to convert to Islam.

Final appeal to supreme court against halving the London borough's libraries provision will not be heard

Book lovers up and down the country celebrated National Libraries Day on Saturday – but in the north London borough of Brent the mood was sombre, after campaigners received another blow in their long-running fight to keep branches open.

Backed by literary names including Zadie Smith, Jacqueline Wilson, Philip Pullman and Alan Bennett, Brent residents have been campaigning for more than a year to save six local libraries – half the borough's branches. In October, their claim that Brent council had taken "a fundamentally flawed and unlawful approach" when closing the libraries was rejected by the high court, a decision that was upheld by the court of appeal in December. After this loss, campaigners applied to the supreme court, but have now been told that no further appeal will be heard.

Brent council leader Ann John said the decision "fully vindicates Brent council's actions and upholds the earlier decisions of both the court of appeal and the high court that the council acted lawfully".

While she expressed the hope that "we can now put the past behind us and focus our attentions fully on improving and developing a better library service for the people of Brent" – the council plans to replace the six branches with one £3m library by Wembley stadium – campaigners vowed that the battle would continue.

"We are definitely fighting on – the question of whether Brent is meeting its obligation to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service isn't a question for the courts – it's a question for Jeremy Hunt, the secretary of state, who has so far spent some nine months failing to answer our complaints," said resident Philip Bromberg. "We will now be pressing him to reach a decision on those complaints."

And users of Kensal Rise library – which was opened by Mark Twain 100 years ago – are calling on Brent council to allow them to reopen the locked branch as a community-run service. "We appeal to Brent to work with us to preserve this vital local resource," said Margaret Bailey, a resident and director of Friends of Kensal Rise Library. "With shrinking budgets, we understand that we must be creative and constructive in finding ways to maintain services. Brent now has a choice: to regain the trust of its constituents by responding to our proposals in the spirit of cooperation, or to squander the extraordinary goodwill and commitment that this community has shown."

Director Abel Ferrara confirms that Depardieu will star opposite Isabelle Adjani in his film about political sex scandals, inspired by the French politician

Gerard Depardieu is set to take the lead role in Abel Ferrara's Dominique Strauss-Kahn-inspired film about political sex scandals, the maverick US film-maker has told a French newspaper.

Ferrara, the iconoclastic director of Bad Lieutenant and King of New York, told Le Monde his movie would be shot in New York, Washington and in France: "In all spots of power in fact: it's a film about rich and powerful people." Depardieu has been tipped to take the lead since December last year, when news of the project first broke. Ferrara also confirmed that Isabelle Adjani will play his wife.

Ferrara's producer, Vincent Maraval of Paris-based Wild Bunch, last year denied reports that the project was close to entering production after earlier appearing to suggest the opposite. "Vincent doesn't want to talk about the project, that's normal, he's the producer," Ferrara told Le Monde. "But I'm the director! No one can stop me from talking about my movie."

Earlier reports suggested Ferrara's film might also include elements from the lives of other politicians, such as Bill Clinton and Silvio Berlusconi, who have found themselves embroiled in sex scandals. Interviewed on the subject by Le Journal Du Dimanche, Depardieu refused to be drawn, saying only: "In general, I'm very good at playing characters that I don't like or don't resemble."

Ferrara's latest film is 4:44 Last Day on Earth, which chronicles the events of the final 24 hours before a global apocalypse and stars Willem Dafoe. It played in competition at the 68th Venice International Film festival in September.

Singer feels 'fantastic' following treatment for colon cancer

Robin Gibb's cancer is "almost gone", he said on Friday. Despite reports that he was close to death, the 62-year-old Bee Gee said he is "feeling fantastic" after undergoing treatment at The London Clinic. "I feel better than I did 10 years ago," he said.

Gibb's comments follow reports that he had been diagnosed with cancer. "The fact is, I've never spoken to anybody about my condition," he told BBC Radio 2. "A lot of [claims] go over the top to the point where they're telling me things I didn't even know about myself … It's all simple. I was diagnosed with a growth in my colon. It was removed. And I've been treated for that by a brilliant doctor, and in their own words 'the results have been spectacular.'"

The singer has suffered from poor health in recent years. In 2010, he cancelled a series of public appearances owing to severe stomach pains. He eventually received emergency surgery for a blocked intestine. Gibb's condition was similar to that of his twin brother Maurice, who died in 2003.

"I don't know how I could feel any better," Gibb said. "I'm active, my appetite's fantastic, the plumbing is all in perfect working order. If I had a choice about how I'd like to feel for the rest of my life, this would be it … Really from now on it's just what they could describe as a mopping-up operation."

Gibb is almost ready to debut The Titanic Requiem, a classical album he composed and recorded with his son, RJ. It will have its live debut on 10 April, exactly 100 years after the Titanic set sail from Southampton. Gibb will help lead the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and RSVP Voices Choir, featuring tenor Mario Frangoulis and 13-year-old choirgirl Isabel Suckling.

Metal legends dismiss drummer's complaints over 'unsignable' contract, saying their comeback will carry on without him

Black Sabbath's comeback will take place without Bill Ward. The metal legends have announced they are moving on without their original drummer, dismissing his complaints about the terms of their reunion.

In a statement on their website, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi hardly seemed sympathetic to Ward's grievances. "We were saddened to hear via Facebook that Bill declined publicly to participate in our current [plans]," they wrote. "We have no choice but to continue recording without him although our door is always open."

Though the specifics of the dispute have not been revealed, Ward has emphasised his interest in and commitment to the group – he simply has issues with the contract. "My position is not greed-driven," Ward wrote on Thursday. "I'm not holding out for a 'big piece' of the action (money) like some kind of blackmail deal … [just] a signable contract … that reflects some dignity and respect toward me as an original member of the band."

Fans have been vocal in their respect for Ward's decision. "Your support from across the world has given me further strength and hope for a positive resolve," Ward wrote on Saturday . "I have been moved and overwhelmed by the thousands of messages. I love you all."

Meanwhile, Osbourne, Butler and Iommi have begun writing and recording their first album in 34 years. They are currently based in England, where Iommi is receiving treatment for cancer. Black Sabbath still plan to launch a world tour in May, including an appearance at June's Download festival. But it seems they will do so without Ward – who played on 10 of the band's first 11 albums.

Joseph Grimaldi, who died in 1837 and was the inventor of the modern clown, is remembered every February by a memorial service in Dalston, London

Harry Potter star describes Nick Clegg 'whipping boy' of Tories and says he will vote Labour

Daniel Radcliffe has announced that he is no longer a supporter of the Liberal Democrats after emerging as one of the party's most high-profile celebrity backers ahead of the last British general election, and will probably vote instead for Labour under its "genuinely leftwing" leader, Ed Miliband.

In what is turning into a hemorrhaging of support for the Lib Dems among a list of celebrity backers it unveiled in the run-up to last year's vote, the star of the Harry Potter franchise described party leader Nick Clegg as a "whipping boy" for the Conservatives. He also hit out at the "homophobia" of some of the US Republican presidential candidates.

Colin Firth, another actor and A-list Hollywood star declared in December that he was ending his support for the Lib Dems. The party has also lost the support of Bella Freud, the fashion designer, and Kate Mosse, the author.

Radcliffe made the comments in an interview that will be published on Monday in the latest issue of Attitude magazine, the same forum he used in 2009 to announce that he would "almost certainly" be using his first ever vote in a general election to vote Lib Dem.

Asked if he is happy with the Lib Dems's place in the coalition, he said: "No, of course not. Nick Clegg asked to meet me after that Attitude interview and we talked about issues such as gay rights and faith schools.

"I was initially supportive. For me it was good that the Lib Dems would be fighting our corner. But he has become a whipping boy and it seems to me that he has been totally used by the Tories - anything they don't want badly reflected on them they reflect on to him."

The actor, who is estimated to have a £30m fortune, cited "so many concessions" by the Lib Dems' on education and taxes. He added: "I think, if you make a lot more money than most people - like I do - you should pay more tax and subsidise people who work just as hard as you, but don't earn as much."

Radcliffe, whose current film, The Woman in Black, was estimated to have made $21m at the US box office during its weekend opening, said he "will probably be going to Labour".

He said: "From what I've seen of Ed Miliband, I really like him and he speaks for what I believe in. I think he's genuine, genuinely leftwing, and will act as such if he gets in."

The actor — who is straight — also used the interview to call for gay marriage, relationship education in schools that would cover both gay and straight relationships, and attacked some of the US Republican presidential candidates.

Radcliffe said that he wished more educational establishments, especially in the US, were not in thrall to religion, stating: "I'm not religious, I'm an atheist, and a militant atheist when religion starts impacting on legislation. We need sex education in schools.

He went on to say that he has been "disgusted, amazed, stunned" by candidates seeking the Republican presidential nomination, such as Rick Santorum or Michele Bachmann, who have been openly hostile to gay rights.

"But they disgusted me less than candidates like Rick Perry, who made that ridiculous advert wearing 'the Brokeback jacket', and I think pretend to be homophobic just to win votes." .

Asked if he wished that Barack Obama would publicly back gay marriage, he replied: "Yes, I do, but can he really? Of course he's in favour of it, but he has to be careful about saying so. I'd rather have someone like him in the White House than the alternative."

Booksellers hint at a possible 'labelling strike' where they would simply refuse to stick new price tags on books

Behind nine vast window displays of graphic novels, art and politics books, hand-written reviews were tacked to recommended fiction and booksellers greeted customers by name while welcoming passing trade from the neighbouring organic market.

"In London I was shocked to see tables of three-for-two book offers as if they were selling socks," said Karine Henry, co-manager of the Comme Un Roman independent bookshop in Paris's trendy northern Marais. "We're a smiling, cultural service to the neighbourhood – with an added human value you could never get from a website."

France's 3,000 independent bookstores may seem like a literary utopia to small book-traders across the Channel. A French law fixing book prices means readers pay the same whether they buy online, from a chain or from a small bookseller.

Discounting is banned. The government boasts this has saved independents from the ravages of free-market capitalism that hit the UK when it dropped fixed prices in the 1990s.

But all is not well in the world of small French bookshops, as literature becomes a small but significant part of the political row over how to fix France's economic crisis. In Nicolas Sarkozy's second crisis-budget plan, which raised taxes to try to plug the deficit, he raised VAT on books from 5.5% to 7%.

Booksellers' unions are up in arms against the measure, which comes into force in April, warning that their tiny margins could shrink further while they struggle with high rents and business charges.

Selling books in France is one of the least profitable sales businesses, with a far lower margin than the ubiquitous opticians or perfumeries. Other countries, including the UK, exempt books from VAT.

"This sector is fragile and delicate, its margins can't take the hit," said Henry, who was preparing a window display of protest postcards by a major Paris cartoonist. Some booksellers have hinted at a possible "labelling strike" where they simply refuse to stick on new price tags.

The culture minister has ordered an urgent review into how to help small booksellers stay afloat. But VAT on books has become a cultural battleground between Sarkozy, who has fought off charges of being the least cultured French president in history, and the Socialist presidential candidate, François Hollande, who recently misquoted Shakespeare at his first major rally.

Hollande promised to roll back the VAT increase on books, saying "culture should be a political priority".

Guillaume Husson, of the booksellers union Syndicat de la Librairie Française, said: "We're against the principle of VAT on books. Books should be considered a product of necessity in society."

The row comes as the fixed price law has been extended to French ebooks, and small booksellers debate how to compete against the rise of high-street chains and online stores.

A group of independent booksellers recently published an appeal in Le Monde begging French readers to avoid "soul-less global giants".

Penguin Books poll to mark 200th anniversary of author's birth reveals miser from A Christmas Carol as best loved

A cold-hearted miser bullied by ghosts into gaining a conscience has triumphed over a festering, jilted bride and an alcoholic, nihilistic barrister – not to mention the odd pickpocket and escaped convict – to be named the most popular Charles Dickens character.

Ebenezer Scrooge saw off many of the writer's best known and loved creations, including Miss Havisham, Sydney Carton, the Artful Dodger, Fagin, Nancy and Magwitch, in a Penguin Books poll commissioned to mark the 200th anniversary this week of Dickens's birth.

The top 10 is light on unadulterated goodness, with only Pip and Joe Gargery from Great Expectations and Betsey Trotwood from David Copperfield representing the kinder faces among the Dickensian ranks.

And although the list is heavily slanted towards Great Expectations and Oliver Twist, Oliver himself was left wanting more votes at No 11.

Claire Tomalin, whose highly acclaimed biography of Dickens was published last year, said that Scrooge's popularity was surprising given that his 21st-century equivalent might be a banker.

"But Dickens excelled in creating villains, and always gave them more energy and brio than his good characters, so that we never forget them," she said. "Scrooge is a monster, a wicked employer and a heartless miser, but he is allowed to repent and see the error of his ways."

Some of Britain's bestselling authors also picked their favourite Dickens characters. Tim Lott and Josephine Cox opted for Pip and Oliver respectively; Freya North chose Uriah Heep, describing him as a "loathsome character who seeps from the pages like a noxious gas"; Daisy Goodwin went for "the anti-heroine of Bleak House", Lady Dedlock, while Adele Parks favoured the "morally ambiguous" Nancy from Oliver Twist.

Tomalin has also used the anniversary to lament young readers' inability to get to grips with Dickens.

"Today's children have very short attention spans because they are being reared on dreadful television programmes which are flickering away in the corner," she said.

"Children are not being educated to have prolonged attention spans and you have to be prepared to read steadily for a Dickens novel and I think that's a pity."

Tomalin described Dickens as "the greatest creator of characters in English" after Shakespeare and stressed his enduring relevance to Britain in 2012.

"When he went to America in 1842, one of the points he made was that the 'unimportant' and 'peripheral' people were just as interesting to write about as 'great' people," she said.

"You only have to look around our society and everything he wrote about in the 1840s is still relevant – the great gulf between the rich and poor, corrupt financiers, corrupt members of parliament, how the country is run by old Etonians, you name it, he said it."

Events are taking place across the globe to mark Dickens's 200th birthday on Tuesday 7 February, including a street party in the road where he was born in Portsmouth, and a wreath-laying ceremony at his grave in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, London. The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will attend the abbey ceremony, where readers will include Tomalin and the actor and director Ralph Fiennes. The British Council has also organised a global Dickens read-a-thon, which will see a reading marathon lasting 24 hours in 24 different countries from Albania to Zimbabwe.