London celebrates Charles Dickens bicentenary: Happy Birthday Mr Boz!
2012 is the bicentenary year of Charles Dickens, one of the best known and best loved writers in English literature. So, if this was going to be London’s year anyway, due to the 2012 Summer Olympics, it will be even more because of the whole of the world celebrating Dickens’ work.
Actually, all the world is getting ready to pay homage to this great Victorian novelist who nicknamed himself “Boz” but celebrations in the UK definitely reach the climax. All round the country, tributes and events are getting underway. Starting from Dickens’ place of birth, Portsmouth, where the author was born on February 7th, 1812.
However, London has the major part to play in the life and times of Charles Dickens, especially as the poverty and discrimination he saw there were the inspiration for many of the books. Therefore, despite the great commitment for the Olympics and Diamond Jubilee, the city doesn’t seem to be too flustered and is putting on plenty of events.
Here’s what’s going to happen in London, right on February 7th, 2012, the day of Dickens’ bicentenary.
To start with, on the morning of the bicentenary, the Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall (ok, Charles and Camilla) will visit the Charles Dickens Museum: some of the world’s finest Dickens-related collections in the only surviving London home of Dickens.
Simultaneously with the wreath laying in Portsmouth, there will be one also at 11am in Westminster Abbey, Poets’ Corner – where Dickens was buried in 1870. The ceremony will include readings from Dickens’s writings by actor and director Ralph Fiennes, author Claire Tomalin and Mark Dickens, head of the Dickens family.
At 7pm “Dickens’s London” book launch at the bookHaus, 70 Cadogan Place, SW1x 9AH. A work by author Peter Clark, about Dickens’s intimate relationship with London. This event is free, with food and drinks provided. Dickens’s London will be for sale at the special price of £7.
The Charles Dickens Museum will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of his birth with a special dinner at Mansion House – the official home of the Lord Mayor of London, right in the heart of The City. It will be a fundraising dinner, with Dickens-themed entertainment led by the great Sir Patrick Stewart and musical performances by West End Kids. (£120 per person).
In the following days and weeks, you’ll have a wealth of Dickens-related things to do in London as well. Enjoy a tour of Dickens London within the Square Mile on February 11; meet Charles Dickens on February 11 and 12, through the plots of his most famous books, to find out how some of his novels are actually based on his own childhood; until March 4th, the British Library will host an exhibition exploring Dickens’ relationship with the supernatural, and until April 1st, the original manuscript of his (autobiographical) masterpiece David Copperfield, can be seen at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
It would take too long to list all the events scheduled, but they are surely all worth a try. So if you detect something interesting we’ve left out… just type it down!
Photo by liits
About the Author
Daniela Hi, I am Daniela and I am passionate about creative languages - especially in advertising - voyages, wine&food and. .. shoes. I was born in Canada and now I live in Sicily, where I'm a travel and new trends writer and blogger, combining with this activity a strong devotion to the world of hotel hospitality. I also translate texts and websites in English and collaborate with several wineries being specialized in copywriting about wines and territories, interpreting and guided tours.
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