Portsmouth daily The News gave over its front page today to mark the 200th birthday of one of the city’s most famous sons – Charles Dickens.

The celebrated novelist was born on 7 February 1812 in Portsmouth’s Mile End Terrace, now part of Old Commercial Road.

Today’s paper marked the occasion with a poster front page headlined ‘Great Expectations’ which incorporated an image of his original birth notice in the paper.

The Johnston Press-owned daily has also been providing live coverage of the 200th anniversary celebrations on its website.

The News is also honouring the memory of the great storyteller with the launch of a new year-long campaign to promote literacy in schools.

Read All About It will aim to help children develop reading skills and so foster a love of literature and books.

The paper said in an editorial:  “Today The News pays tribute to the memory of the city’s most famous son Charles Dickens with the launch of a new campaign.

“Literacy – the ability to read for knowledge – is a fundamental life skill that underpins everything that we do.  And the skill of reading, which leads to a love of books and literature, must start from a young age.

“Shocking statistics show one in three children in the UK do not own a book. But many of our schools are coming up with brilliant initiatives to help children achieve the best.

“And it is those ideas that our campaign will give a platform to – sharing good teaching practice and encouraging an exchange of ideas to boost the skill of reading. In a nutshell, we want to get youngsters reading any way we can.”

• Hundreds of pounds were raised for two news trade charities at a special dinner to mark the anniversary. NewstrAid and the NFRN benefited from support by local news agents as well as the Southern Daily Echo and Portsmouth News. Charles Dickens was a founder of NewstrAid