“[Elizabeth Dickens] liked to say that she had been dancing all night the day before Charles was born; diligent research has shown that the ball took place four days earlier, which only goes to show what a spoilsport diligent research can be. Whatever the timing, dancing a night when you’re nine months gone suggests a certain commitment to fun.”
– Simon Callow, Charles Dickens and the Great Theater of the World
I had no idea that Simon Callow–the irrepressible Mr. Beebe in the 1985 A Room with a View and the even more irrepressible Gareth in Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)–was also a writer. Yet, here he is with a book on Dickens coming out next week. Here he is talking about Dickens and London for the Guardian.
Full disclosure, I just finished the course blog for my Dickens class, so I’ve got Dickensian things on the brain. If this blog inadvertently takes on a Dickens focus for the next few months, I apologize.
To Be An Electric Telegraph 