Charlie Chaplin at Chequers, 1931 Ramsay MacDonald (right), the first Labour Prime Minister, strolls through the grounds of Chequers - his official country residence - with the screen icon, Charlie Chaplin. In his autobiography, Chaplin observed that MacDonald seemed a typical country gentleman and 'the last person to look like a leader of the Labour Party.'

Born in London in 1889, Charles Spencer Chaplin won international fame as a movie star of the silent screen. Earning $150 per week, he began his film career in 1913, but by 1917 he had signed a contract worth $1,000,000 to make eight films for First National. After this contract expired in 1923, he worked only for the United Artists Company - which he co-founded in 1919 - as no other company could afford him. Chaplin left the USA in 1952 after being accused by the press and some American politicians of links with subversive causes. He died in Switzerland in 1977.