Leicester Square

The Odeon Cinema

Built in 1937 on the site of the Alhambra music hall, this is the largest single screen cinema in Britain and still has an operating Compton organ. The magnificent art-deco auditorium, featuring two naked nymphs, was almost destroyed by ‘modernisation’ in the 1960s but has now been partially restored.

Joshua Reynolds
Reynolds was born near Plymouth in 1723 and came to London to study art in 1740. A disciple of William Hogarth, he also studied in Rome before setting up as a fashionable portrait painter. The first president of the Royal Academy in 1768, he was knighted in 1769 and died in 1792.

John Hunter
A founder of ‘scientific surgery’, Scots-born John Hunter came to London in 1748. As an army surgeon, he developed new treatments for gunshot wounds. Moving to 28 Leicester Square in 1783, his teaching museum - with a kangaroo specimen donated by Captain Cook - became world-famous.

Charlie Chaplin
Unveiled by Sir Ralph Richardson in 1981, this statue is by British sculptor John Doubleday, who made the Sherlock Holmes sculpture at Baker Street tube. Chaplin was born in South London and first went on stage aged eight, touring America at the age of 17 when his talent was spotted.

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