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
Canal Street, Oxford the proximity of the canal. Although most of the houses in the street are small two-storey terraced houses, Canal Street is now a popular inner-city residential street with high property prices due to its convenient central location. "Canal Reach" off Canal Street was used as the location of a murder in "The Dead of Jericho", the first Inspector Morse novel by Colin Dexter, published in 1981. This was subsequently filmed in the area for television, starring John Thaw as Inspector Morse. Canal Street, Oxford Canal Street is a residential street in Jericho, an inner suburb of Oxford, England, to the