Our Charles Dickens London Walking Tours are proving hugely popular and our next one sets of from Chancery Lane Underground Station tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11.30am.
The great thing about these tours is that the group numbers are nice and small, meaning that you get to enjoy an intimate two hour stroll through the part of London that has changed little, if at all, since the mid 19TH century when Dickens lived and worked here and when he wrote about it in novels such as Bleak House, The Old Curiosity Shop and Oliver Twist.
The Dickens London Tour is more of a chatty wander than a standard sightseeing tour. Richard Jones, your guide, is an expert on the subject and is the author of the book Walking Dickensian London.
With our smaller groups you are able to chat with Richard as you go around. You can discuss your favourite Dickens books or characters as you move between locations. Last week, for example, Richard was joined by a group who are currently reading Claire Tomalin’s Charles Dickens :-A Life and were interested in discussing Dickens last decade when, having separated from his wife Catherine, he had become involved with the young actress Ellen Ternan.
Their relationship became one of the most closely guarded secrets of the 19TH Century and full details of it didn’t become public knowledge until the 1930’s.
Dickens himself was anxious to suppress the many rumours that were circulating about his domestic situation, not least because he was about to undertake a series of Public Reading Tours and he feared that the adverse publicity might put people off attending.
Also, he, more than any other writer, was seen as the very embodiment of family values and Christian domesticity, so anything that might dent that image had to be kept well and truly under wraps.
It’s a fascinating story and it is covered in a great deal of detail on the Dickens walk tomorrow. So, if you want to see another side of Victorian London, and one which genuinely complements our Jack the Ripper Tour, then join Richard Jones tomorrow for A Journey Through Dickens London.