London is launching Christmas early this year, on 3 November 2009! A big extravaganza was planned in the West End and the City of London where Christmas lights were switched on simultaneously in three locations. An attempt was made to break the Guinness World Record for the largest number of people carol singing at one time, and the world film premiere of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was also screened to mark the occasion.
© krisdecurtis, Flickr.com
Dickens’ London
Although originally from Portsmouth, Charles Dickens is very closely associated with Victorian London – he used many London locations in his writing. A Christmas Carol mentions St Paul’s Cathedral, Mansion House, Cornhill and Camden Town. There is also a cryptic mention of a church which is thought to be St. Michael’s in the City of London.
There are certainly a lot of places in London which have links to Dickens and merit a look. A good place to start is the Charles Dickens Museum, his home from 1837 to 1839, containing four floors of paintings, rare manuscript editions, furniture and special exhibitions.
Obviously London has changed a lot since the mid 19th century, but there are still locations which would be recognisable to Dickens: the Bank of England mentioned in many works; the British Museum which David visits in David Copperfield; Covent Garden which stars in Great Expectations and Little Dorrit among others; The Guildhall where Mr Pickwick is tried; the Monument which features in Martin Chuzzlewit and Barnaby Rudge; and Westminster Abbey visited by Pip in Great Expectations.
© daveograve@, Flickr.com
Luckily for modern Londoners however, the thick smog which hangs over the city at the start of Bleak House and features in other Dickens’ classics is just a distant memory! For more information about Dickens’ London go to http://www.hiddenlondon.com/dickens.htm
Teaching literature settings
Getting pupils to investigate the real places which inspired the settings of Dickens’ stories is a great way to bring the literature to life for pupils. Although it is always nice to get out of the classroom, there are plenty of ways to facilitate this investigation without leaving school. You might want to take a look at the suggestions in our article on teaching literature settings.
For more on Dickens’ London and events you can take part in visit, London’s Christmas Carol website on Visit London.
Museum of London are running a Victorian Christmas walk on 12 December and a .
