Oxford Street and other areas of Central London such as Bond Street and Piccadilly due to "pickpocketing, fraud and theft". The advent of closed-circuit television has reduced the area's attraction to scam artists and illegal street traders. Every Christmas, Oxford Street is decorated with festive lights. The tradition of Christmas lights began in 1959, five years after neighbouring Regent Street. There were no light displays in 1976 or 1977 because of economic recession, but the lights returned in 1978 when Oxford Street organised a laser display, and have continued every year since. Current practice involves a celebrity turning the lights on in
Regent Street parade of Formula One cars. In 2016, the sport's chief manager, Bernie Ecclestone, speculated that a London Grand Prix may potentially happen in the future, including Regent Street as a part of the circuit. The character Lord Frederick Verisopht in Charles Dickens' "Nicholas Nickelby" lived in an apartment in Regent Street. This reflected the nature of the street in the mid-19th century when it was still a fashionable residence for the upper class. In August 1839, the first British commercial production of daguerreotype photographs were carried out in a property on Regent Street, shortly after the process had been publicly