Gillian Anderson is made patron of Charles Dickens' statue fund
BBC News
January 23, 2013
Actress Gillian Anderson has been made patron of the fund behind the UK's first statue of Charles Dickens, which is due to be unveiled later this year.
The £140,000 monument will stand in Portsmouth where Dickens was born. It was due to be unveiled in 2012 to mark 200 years since the writer's birth, but insufficient funding meant it was put on hold. Another £25,000 still needs to be found and it is hoped Anderson will help spearhead the final fundraising push.
She said: "I was surprised that there wasn't a Dickens statue anywhere in Great Britain. One especially in Portsmouth, where he was born, would be a focal point to expand people's knowledge of and interest in Dickens and his writing."
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