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Video: Dickens experts
reveal their favourite novel

Today the world is celebrating Charles Dickens' 200th
birthday and events will be held across Kent to mark the
occasion.

Earlier this afternoon, the Dickens Fellowship laid flowers
on the graves that inspired characters in his novels, at St
Mary's Church in Chatham. There were also readings from some of his
books.

Later tonight, there will be concert at Dickens World, where the
Band of the Corps of the Royal Engineers will play music from
Dickens' childhood.

As part of the celebrations, we've been asking what's your
favourite Dickens' novel? Take a look at our video package above or
see what our famous faces said below, to find out which one has
come out on top.

Gregg Wallace, writer and broadcaster from
Whitstable: "Great Expectations. It's an absolutely ripping yarn
with wonderful characters. It's sometimes funny, sometimes scary
and keeps you guessing right until the end."

Victoria Pomery, Director of the Turner
Contemporary: "It is difficult to name my favourite but Our Mutual
Friend is high on my list, perhaps because it was a book I studied
at school with my wonderful English teacher, Mr Robertson. It is so
relevant, visual and entertaining. And this year we are working on
a digital project at the gallery called Our Mutual Friends."

Suggs, lead singer with Madness, who has a home
in Whitstable: "I love Oliver Twist. He is like me. He was a poor
boy who made good."

Barbara Sturgeon, writer and broadcaster: "When
I was a child somebody gave my family an ancient set of the
complete works of Dickens. The first one I tackled was A Christmas
Carol and I still love being present at the Cratchit's Christmas
dinner - the smell of the plum pudding boiling in a cloth, and a
hot but triumphant Mrs Cratchit bearing it aloft 'like a speckled
cannon ball'."

David Donachie, author, who also writes as Jack
Ludlow, from Deal: "I love Bleak House for the complexity of its
plot as well as the Dickens' signature literary gift - strong
characters. Yet whatever strand, everything comes back to the case
of Jarndyce v Jarndyce in which Dickens uses lawyers, a profession
he clearly loathed, to highlight the faults of the society in which
he lived. Magic!"

Jo
Thompson, award-winning garden designer: "Great
Expectations definitely. You read it so differently as an adult. As
a child I remember being terrified by Magwitch and Miss Havisham,
but now it's just all so sad. Dickens picks up everyday elements
and issues and spins them into a story as relevant today as when he
wrote it."

Why not let us know which of his novels have inspired you. Just post your comment below.

The KM Group's Dickens: A Love Affair with Kent
supplement is free in all KM Group paid-for newspapers this
week. It will also be available from Linda Evanslevans@thekmgroup.co.uk

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