In profile 

Charles Dickens is widely regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. He wrote a string of bestselling books and short stories including The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby and Great Expectations, creating some of literature’s best-known characters in the process. His books are still in print, and many have been adapted for stage and screen. He is buried at London’s Westminster Abbey.

When did you first hear about Dickens?

In my childhood. I went to the local library all the time while I was growing up, reading books by Dickens, Shakespeare and Enid Blyton – the ‘classics’. I particularly loved Dickens’ use of words – it’s poetry, really – and the language that he used is the language we use today.

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What kind of man was he?

These days we talk about people who are humanitarian, entrepreneurial or philanthropic, and Dickens was all of those. Being from a poor family, he had a sense of where he came from, which made him conscious of the plights and poverty of others, and he wrote about such people in his novels.

Authors

York MemberyJournalist

York Membery is a regular contributor to BBC History Magazine, the Daily Mail and Sunday Times among other publications. York, who lives in London, worked on the Mirror, Express and Times before turning freelance. He studied history at Cardiff University and the Institute of Historical Research, and has a History PhD from Maastricht University.

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