this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines at the top of the hour but now on bbc news, it's talking movies. newsreel: now what distinguished visitor i is arriving on this train that so many are waiting for? charlie chaplin was the biggest, most popular icon in the 20th century. newsreel: the man who gives the london bobbies_

a battle with the crowds is, yes, charlie chaplin. - he had a level of fame and immediacy to his audience that was completely unprecedented. whatever is effective, dramatic and arresting as far as the public, the main object is to entertain. chaplin showed us thatl comedy could be great, comedy could encompass tragedy as well. - he had a really appalling childhood. you can laugh at him, but you can also feel for him. chaplin on film talked about the eternal problems. that is why his films are so successful. in today's talking movies, how charlie chaplin became the most famous movie star in the world. from very difficult beginnings, we trace his career over the decades, starting in the silent era in the uk, through his frenetic years in america, before he settled into a life in exile in switzerland. hello from the cinema museum in london. i'm tom brook, and welcome

to our talking movies charlie chaplin special. his was a tremendous rags to riches story. he was the first truly global media superstar, and had a major and lasting impact on 20th—century cinema. in an age where many hollywood studio films feel stale and lifeless, chaplin's work remains vibrant. we can learn from him. to watch his 1931 movie city lights, particularly the ending, is to be enthralled by one of the most magical moments in cinema. it involves a florist who had been blind in the past, and had mistaken chaplin's character for a wealthy man. she has now regained her sight and sees him for who he really is — the tramp. he recognises her, she doesn't at first realise it's him.

she looks into his face, and he looked back at her. it is such a wonderful moment of acting and filmcraft, it's also incredibly romantic. a characteristic wave of the charlie chaplin walking stick, and sir charles chaplin emerges from buckingham palace. charlie chaplin's career spanned more than 75 years. reporter: is it to be | sir charles or sir charlie from now on? it's just charles. he starred in over 80 films. he changed the face of cinema forever. reporter: how do you intend to spend the rest of the day, l now — are you going to celebrate? - well, get drunk. i am here in the neighbourhood of kennington, where, as it happens, charlie chaplin spent some of his difficult formative years. in fact, this museum was once part of a complex that housed

a workhouse where charlie chaplin was a resident. but the hardship that he endured as a young man was put to good use by him in his later years, in terms of how he used cinema to tell stories. alan moloney reports. a genius, a multimillionaire, an icon. all words that would eventually be used to describe the boy who was born charles spencer chaplinjunior. there is no official record of his birth in london in 1889, but it is believed the young chaplin was born here, in east street in what was one of south london's poorest areas. increased industrialisation and widespread poverty meant it was easy to get left behind. he had a really appalling childhood. his father was an alcoholic and he drifted in and out of their lives, and his mother had mental illness and she would have regular

nervous breakdowns. he was brought up by basically a single mother, him and his half—brother sydney. when she couldn't look after him and his brother, they often went into workhouses — like the building we are in right now was a workhouse where charlie chaplin stayed. and these early experiences clearly never left him. both of chaplin's parents were musical entertainers. and it is said that he got his first experience on stage at the age of five, when he sang a song as a replacement for his mother when she was unable to perform. but as a friend of chaplin's mother recalls, they were desperate times. she used to come to my place every sunday, and charlie would come and have tea with me. she got a little bit of a sandwich, she was very poor, you know — a little sandwich that she'd save for him to take home. she thought he didn't get enough to eat. performing seemed to be his only constant, and he achieved some degree of success at the age of ten as part of a touring clog dancing troupe called the eight lancashire lads.

it was definitely about making ends meet, finding a way of feeding yourself. but he was talented, he was recognised — when he was about 12 or 13 years old, on the west end stage, he plays a dog — and this wasn't in the script but he lifted his leg and the whole audience laughed. this kind of defined his comedy in some ways. because if you watch chaplin, when he enters the scene, he immediately does a bit of business. something that is funny. and i think that comes from a sense of — maybe desperation is not the right word, but anxiety and understanding about comedy, but also lying underneath chaplin's comedy is this precarity, this sense of, it could all end. and the wolf is at the door. chaplin's spirit made him a natural on the stage, finding success with a performance group which took him to america. a young chap with ambitions

like that, there was no way he could resist going to america. he didn't initially think of film as something for him, but he did think the idea of moving to movies would offer him a new kind of life, i think that is what really appealed to him. his salary and surroundings may have altered dramatically, but chaplin's impoverished youth left a lasting impression on him. it gave him a keen understanding of the common man, as well as empathy for the underdog. themes that would become central to some of around the world, charlie chaplin connected emotionally

with his fans through the tramp, his baggy trousered bowler—hatted screen incarnation that first appeared in 1914. it was a creation very much linked to his troubled youth. the tramp is a really important part of the chaplin persona. he had obviously grown up in south london in very trying circumstances, very serious poverty, and he had also grown up with the music hall. so he had known about all the different characters, in fact one of his earliest popular characters was actually an aristocrat a sort of drunken swell and toff, but when he created the tramp persona he immediately went to someone that was visually arresting and already very popular in american culture, sort of vaudeville comedy acts. and it allows him to express a lot of what he felt about the world — as well as being a clown, is also putting himself out there as the underdog, the everyman, the sort of put—upon character from society. the tramp is funny,

you can laugh at him, but you can also feel for him. there is something pathetic about the tramp. that tramp figure, which wasn't new, but he brought to it through cinema a chance for the audience to feel like they are all part of one thing, and escape from their own lives. the character of the tramp was a truly beloved international figure. it helped propel chaplin to being the world's first megastar. the adoration was visible just over 100 years ago when he returned to london for the first time in nine years from america. he was mobbed wherever he went. charlie chaplin almost immediately becomes the biggest international star that the film world had known, and therefore basically anyone had known up to that point, because it was like seeing the real man in front of you, and he had a level of fame and immediacy to his audience that was completely unprecedented. the film industry is becoming global. so he is notjust popular

with american audiences, he is popular with european audiences, ultimately with world audiences. and he is popular in that way because his comedy can be seen by everyone in the world. not until elvis do you get a kind of popularity on that level. and chaplin worship continues to this day, albeit on a smaller scale. i do like the way he transformed cinema, starting with silent movies, but what i appreciate the most is how much of a philosopher he is, and how much he had to say to the world. all his films are just great, for every age. i think even for kids. he has done such a lot of things, and he came from the bottom and goes to the top. with chaplin you have - the humble guy from the street and also the greatest star. in the world, and i suppose he sometimes makes people realise that they have a little bit of greatness inside them.

i have often wondered how charlie chaplin felt when he first set foot in america, here in new york city 110 years ago. he wrote of his early impressions in his autobiography, and at first he wasn't that taken with the country. but he describes how one evening, during the month of october, he took a walk on broadway in this neighbourhood where i am standing right now, and his attitude began to change. he said: "the meaning of america came to me, "the tall skyscrapers, the brilliant lights, "the dazzling displays of advertisements, "stirred me with hope and a sense of adventure. "i said, this is it, this is where i belong". america, where chaplin lived for some a0 years until 1952, brought him both great fortune and great difficulty. first and foremost, it provided him with an arena in which he could make his films. all his best movies were made in his prolific american years.

he had his own studio, he did everything — he wrote, directed, produced and starred in his movies, and he composed the music. charlie chaplin clearly had this great talent as a stage performer, but once he starts getting involved in film he realised there are so many other roles, and he has got this perfectionist streak. you can't indulge your perfectionist streak without taking control of almost everything, so whenever he got offered anything from a producer it was, "i would like to direct, "and i would like to produce." and he wanted to have his own studio. he was a self—taught musician. he composed scores for films he had already made, he wanted everything to be done exactly as he wanted it to be done. and it is hard to argue with the results, really. and how do you view him in terms of what he peddled in his films? do you see him as a political filmmaker? charlie chaplin, with his social background and concerns about humanity, he can't help but be political even when he is trying not to be.

as the films go on he developed an interest in certain themes that have more political resonance. start thinking about the rights of workers in capitalism, he starts thinking about the speed of the machine age and how that affects people and their international relations. he starts thinking about obviously the war. it all culminates with the great dictator, one of the most bold political statements a comedian has ever put on film. we all want to help one another. human beings are like that. i want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. we don't want to hate and despise one another. in this world there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. a way of life can be free and beautiful. but we have lost the way. one of his most celebrated films was the great dictator, a satire of adolf hitler — and it illustrates chaplin's brand of humanist politics. in the film's final speech you hear rousing words, words you only wish today's political leaders might utter. do not despair.

the misery now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. the hate of men will pass and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. and so long as men die, liberty will never perish. despite his popularity, or maybe because of it, chaplin began to lose favour in certain quarters in america, at a time when the country was going through a bout of anti—communist paranoia in the 1950s, with the so—called red scare — the fears that communists were lurking everywhere. chaplin stood tall — he wasn't overtly political but his focus in his films on the underdog made him a target. there was a lot of hostility towards people who were supposedly communists in the american film industry, chaplin was targeted as one of those people. and although the investigation into his political beliefs didn't go very far, they were able to sort of pin lots of crimes on him by following one of his liaisons with a young woman, and a paternity suit.

and that is what they used to say he was not a suitable person to stay in america. he got a telegram saying his visa had been revoked. it was at the height of the mccarthy era — plenty of people's careers, especially in showbusiness, their careers were being ruined because they were seen as belonging to the communist party. chaplin had been the subject of fbi investigations since the 1920s. those were the official reasons. but i think the way that his comedy was constructed, to evoke empathy and sympathy for those who are less fortunate than the middle class, i think that was dangerous. and i think that is the underlying reason why chaplin was exiled to europe. i have come to vevey in switzerland, by lake geneva. and this estate is where charlie chaplin came to live in 1952 after he left the united states. he remained here for 25 years until 1977 when he died.

this european chapter of his life was less frenetic than the time he spent in america. he was less prolific as a filmmaker, although he did lead a productive life. to find out more about his latter years here in switzerland, i have come to meet his son eugene, who happens to be the same age as me — born in 1953. chaplin came to vevey with his wife oona, daughter of playwright eugene o'neill, who he'd married when she was only 18 in 1943. today the house is part of a bigger enterprise, chaplin's world — a museum paying tribute to his life. for chaplin it was very much a home. his son eugene still lives nearby. what early memories do you have of being here as a very young boy in this house with your family? firstly it was a family house, with eight kids. to me it's difficult to speak

about my father alone, because my mother was an important part of our life. my mother ran the house, to make sure that my father could work. usually during the day they didn't want any noise. most of the time we were at school, which was fine, then my father would be left alone and worked on whatever he was working on. do you think he ever had regrets about not being in america, orwas he quite clear about being here and letting go of america? he missed america very much. every day he would walk downtown to buy the new york times, and he would come back and read it in the evening here. and if he saw things which bothered him he would get mad about it, and he would read it out to my mother and she would say "oh, charlie, it's ok, don't worry about it". what made him come to terms with it was going back

to america to receive the oscar in the �*70s. that standing ovation and seeing his friends, he was so touched and happy about that. when he came back here, his bitterness towards america had left him. and what about media coverage of your father nowadays? i mean, obviously people are incredibly impressed by his movies, but there is also a lot of focus on his private life. does that bother you? yes, because it is out of context. i think it is always easy, you know, to turn around and say oh, he was this, he was that. first people have to realise how young he was when he became a big star. and has it changed really now, when you see these young stars, how they behave? then of course, this thing about young women, but i think to be fair, a lot of women went to hollywood hoping to be stars, and a lot of mothers

were pushing their daughters to go there and to meet someone famous and get married, and live happily ever after kind of thing. in the entertainment, it has always been like that. my father got enough criticism with the women in his life, but at the end he found the right person. she was much younger than him, but they loved each other during the time they lived together. so there you are. and when you think about your father's legacy, how would you describe it? chaplin with film talked about the eternal problems, and showed them again, and that is why his films are still successful, is because those themes not being resolved, you know. they still go on. reporter: do you think that the tramp - can be understandable to today's young people? i oh yes, oh yes. it is understandable to me, and i'm no mental heavyweight. indeed, interest in charlie

chaplin's has regained currency with the advent of the internet, where many young people now watch his work. youtube, interestingly enough, is very similar to silent cinema. those comedies that chaplin was in, little short pieces. chaplin's comedy was designed for that kind of format. short, gag type comedy, and that plus the restoration of those early films, there is a — my students find those kind of things very funny. it is heartening to hear that charlie chaplin is reaching a new generation. in researching him for this programme, my opinion of him grew. i always knew he excelled technically as an actor and director, but watching his movies, you see him emphasising the importance of love and how we all need it to thrive. he knew how important it was. he seemed to have a real grip on understanding the human condition in a way that few otherfilmmakers do.

and what can chaplin teach today's filmmakers, where movies that are often made hew to formula and corporate dictates? chaplin knew how to make meaningful comedy, how to make a connection with the audience. chaplin showed us comedy could be great, and comedy could be serious, and comedy can encompass tragedy as well. so we do always come back to this charming sentimental eternal underdog figure who occasionally gets one over on authority, but very often has a sad ending. we understand that sometimes you're fighting, you struggle, you don't always get there. and yet he walks off into the sunset and we see him again in the next film. reporter: what are your- immediate plans for the future now, sir charles? i'll, make one more picture. i always say that. well, that brings this

charlie chaplin special to a close. we hope you enjoyed the programme. please remember you can always reach us online. and you can find us on twitter. so from me, tom brook, and the rest of the talking movies team here at chaplin's world in switzerland, it's goodbye, as we leave you with some classic moments from charlie chaplin's films.

hello. we started november with temperatures above average for the time of year and some very wet and windy weather. we're going to start december with temperatures nudging below average and the weather becoming increasingly settled. why the difference? well, recently it's all been about these areas of low pressure piling in from the atlantic. and this one looks like it's got good intentions to try and do the same thing through tuesday, but it will get the brakes put on it through the middle of the week by that high extending across from the east. it's quite a slow progression for the high. itjust builds gradually day on day, but by the weekend it becomes properly established across us and by then it will tap us into some much colder air. we've seen temperatures across russia recently,

well below average and that colder air will come across towards scandinavia, then the uk. first thing tuesday, on the chilly side, many of us seeing a patchy frost and some dense patches of fog, which in some areas could linger. we're only going to see very light variable winds across the uk through tuesday. so, where we get the fog lingering, our temperatures will be pegged back and even where it lifts in some areas, it may stick around as low cloud. these are the best of our temperatures and these are anticipated for areas where we do see the sun coming out and you can see they are lower than we've been seeing recently — we're sliding down that single figure scale. overnight tuesday into wednesday some mist and murk initially, but the wind likely to pick up to the south of the uk through the small hours of wednesday. so, perhaps actually clearer skies to the south first thing wednesday and a little milder, colder spots on wednesday. i think first thing will be across northern and eastern scotland and then through wednesday, daytime there's that front towards the west. well, it mayjust manage to get some rain into northern ireland and western scotland through the day,

but for the majority it's the high coming to dominate. the winds, perhaps up a little on the winds on tuesday may mean we've got lesser issues in terms of lingering mist and fog, but i think there could be quite a lot of low cloud around. so quite grey, quite gloomy for many. and there's that rain just briefly making its way into northern ireland and western scotland. because we're going to have a little bit more of a breeze and therefore a slightly milder start to wednesday. temperatures perhaps just nudge up briefly on those figures from tuesday. but as the high continues to build through the end of the week and takes us into the weekend, our wind will pick up, our easterly wind. mist and fog should'nt be such an issue, but we really will start to drive through that chillier air.

welcome to bbc news — i'm monika plaha. our top stories... security is tightened across china as the authorities try to suppress the widespread protests taking place against covid lockdowns. one of the problems in china is that nobody knows when zero covid will end. the british prime minister rishi sunak uses his first major speech on foreign policy to criticise the chinese authorities for what he calls their authoritarian response to the protests. instead of listening to their people's protests, the chinese government has chosen to crack down further, including by assaulting a bbcjournalist. charities in the philippines say there's been a sharp increase in the sexual

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