Charlie Chaplin's honour has come late in life

England have

Silent film legend Charlie Chaplin has become Sir Charles after a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

The star of such films as The Kid and The Great Dictator was knighted in the New Year's Honours List.

The ceremony took place just miles from the south London district where he spent much of his childhood.

Sir Charles was accompanied to Buckingham Palace by his fourth wife, Oona, and the two youngest of his nine children.

Theslapsticklegend, famed for his acrobatic routines, received his knighthood, from a wheelchair.

It was a reflection of just how late in life - at the age of 85 - his honour had finally come.

As he was pushed into the hall where the ceremony was taking place the band struck up his signature tune, the theme from his 1951 film, Limelight.

He sat stiffly as the Queen tapped him on each shoulder and stooped to hang the KBE insignia around his neck.

The two then chatted briefly before Sir Charles was wheeled to the front of the hall to watch the rest of the ceremony.

Speaking to reporters afterwards Sir Charles said he had been "dumbfounded" by the occasion.

He said the Queen had thanked him for what he had done and that his films had helped her a great deal.

Sir Charles' knighthood follows years of calls for him to be honoured.

In the 1940s and 1950s he was accused of "communist sympathies" and vilified in his adopted home of the United States.

In 1952 his US visa was cancelled forcing Chaplin to relocate to Switzerland.

Three years ago, in what was seen as an act of contrition, he was awarded a special Oscar by the US' Academy of Motion Pictures.

Robert Mugabe had been labelled a terrorist Marxist

Mr Mugabe's radical Zimbabwe African National Union (Patriotic Front) party or Zanu (PF) won 57 of the 80 black seats being contested in the country's first election since becoming the independent republic of Zimbabwe two days ago.

It is enough to give Mr Mugabe a comfortable majority, even when the 20 seats reserved for whites are taken into account.

He told a news conference the new government would include his former chief guerrilla rival, Joshua Nkomo, and his Patriotic Front party, which won 20 seats.

He also made clear he would consider bringing Europeans into the administration "so as to bring about a government that will be reassuring to all people of Zimbabwe".

Bishop Abel Muzorewa's United African National Council, UANC, party won only three votes - a humiliating defeat for the party which only 10 months ago was riding high in the polls.

News of Mr Mugabe's election victory was announced over radio and television sending thousands of enthusiastic black Zimbabweans onto the streets shouting for joy.

Mr Mugabe's symbol, the cockerel or jongwe, inspired his supporters to constant crowing and arm-flapping. Many ran out onto the streets with live birds.

The celebrations were largely good-natured and there were no signs of racial tensions. But overhead and at key crossroads in the capital, Salisbury, and the black townships, the security forces maintained a constant vigil.

Zimbabwe's business and farming communities have reacted to Mr Mugabe's election victory with caution. The Salisbury stock exchange fell sharply when the results were announced but recovered later in the afternoon.

Former prime minister Ian Smith told the BBC: "I think Rhodesians are pretty pragmatic and full of experience.

"I don't visualise them resorting to panic action, stampeding. I think they will act in a very mature, responsible way. After all it's our country, where will we run to?"

In a broadcast on television tonight, Mr Mugabe said : "I wish to assure you that there can never be any return to the state of armed conflict which existed before our commitment to peace and the democratic process of election under the Lancaster House agreement."