Scrooge voted the most popular Dickens character

Reformed miser Ebenezer Scrooge has been voted the most popular Charles Dickens character, according to a poll held to mark the 200th anniversary of the author’s birth.

Seven out of the top 10 characters chosen by Penguin readers were villains or some of Dickens’ darker creations, with vengeful Miss Havisham from Great Expectations coming second.

The jackal-like Sydney Carton, the pick-pocketing Artful Dodger and his criminal ring-leader Fagin completed the top five.