Charles Dickens Museum

As I walked across the road to the museum, a group of children forced their heads out of the first floor window of the house next door, asking me if I was going to the Dickens Museum, and hoping I enjoyed by visit. They weren't urchins as such, but I did wonder at their timing - and if they were setting me up to have my pocket picked. You can't trust these child gangs you know. Maybe they were animatronic, the timing was just too good. They may as well have asked me 'Shine yer shoes governor?'

Museum with the green door - Urchins (not shown) to the right

Dickens lived at 48 Doughty Street for only a couple of years - but he had two children there, and, alongside several 'minor' works, he wrote all of Oliver Twist there. The building has been owned by a Trust since around 1925, including the urchins' building next door, which was bought for expansion, and there are current plans to expand into. That's good long-term planning! 2012 is the 200th anniversary of Dickens' birth, so they want to be ready for that.

The museum is effectively an early Victorian townhouse, much as it was at the time - exactly as it was in many cases. To quote one of the patrons in the free leaflet, it really is 'one of the most congenial of all London's museums'. It's friendly and very pleasant. They also have the best photo policy I've yet encountered - take all the photos you like, just no flash please. Very enlightened.

Dickens' Drawing Room, that's his actual red chair

All the rooms are laid out as they would have been at the time, and there are also numerous displays of original works, nearly always in serial form. Dickens preferred serialisation, normally over twenty months. Apparently he often changed story-lines on the fly as a result of reader feedback - which seems pretty modern and interactive. I'd be fascinated to know if any scholarly research has been done into the extent of these changes, if there is any record of them.

Dickens stuff

The above case has small photos (or engravings) along the front edge, of Dickens through his life. Basically, his beard gets bigger and bushier and crazier. But beards were cool in Victorian times, so don't judge him too harshly.

More Dickens Stuff - note the 'forked' beard effect

Laundry Room

Dickens' wine cellar

There is also a fairly substantial library in the basement, with numerous editions of Dickens' work. I tried to find the late Victorian one that's been in my family for a long time, but it wasn't there - presumably it's too cheap to bother with. Still an heirloom to us though!

The Library

Caricature

The top floor has a room dedicated to the staging of Oliver. Apparently it was recognised as a potential hit, and adapted for the stage before the original serialisation had even finished. Dickens did originally mean Oliver as a savage attack on social injustice and the workhouse system, which it undoubtedly was - but it also made a great story, and a great musical. The focus is on the 1960 version by Lionel Bart (who also wrote 'Living Doll' for Cliff Richard) which introduced the catchy tunes. Once the following poster put it into my head, I was singing this all day:

Theme song of the global banking industry

I thoroughly enjoyed the Charles Dickens Museum - it's 'just right' in terms of size and comprehensive content. I'm also going to watch Oliver again soon. And Great Expectations. I might even try and read some of them too.

Cost: £7. Again, free to Art Fund members.
Food and Drink: Excellent. I had a cup of tea and some carrot cake. The cafe is very nice, and you can sit in the garden when it's better weather.
Toilets: Only one, next to the Victorian laundry. Perfectly clean, but almost Victorian itself.
Travel: It's here.
Web: http://www.dickensmuseum.com/