Explore every episode of the podcast Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire! 🔥
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Gordon Riots: with Ian Haywood | 04 Jun 2024 | 00:50:52 | |
Dominic is joined today by the inimitable Professor Ian Haywood, of the Centre for Inclusive Humanities at the University of Roehampton. If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| DROOD ...📚 And Our Endless Attempts To End It: with Pete Orford | 15 May 2024 | 00:40:38 | |
Dominic is joined again by the inimitable Dr. Pete Orford for Part II of his examination of The Mystery of Edwin Drood ... And reading extracts today, it is an honour to welcome the fantastic actors Joseph Chance and Dan Wheeler together they are part of a quartet known as The Apocalypse Players: an award-winning podcast where role-playing and improvisation combine to create immersive stories for eager listeners each week. Dominic also asks AI to try and write an ending to Edwin Drood with some truly hilarious results! If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| "The Holly Tree" (Excerpt): Read by Chris Nayak | 20 Dec 2023 | 00:13:51 | |
The wonderful actor Chris Nayak reads the from the First Branch of The Holly-Tree Inn - one of Dickens' rarer Christmas stories … Packed with self-deprecating humour, a fantastic snowy atmosphere, this a very pleasing festive narrative. Chris’ stage credits include King Duncan in Macbeth at the Globe this year, and previously the RSC and West End. His screen work includes Coronation Street and We Hunt Together … So sit back an enjoy this opening excerpt from The Holly Tree Inn If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| A Dickensian Christmas Dinner: with Pen Vogler | 20 Dec 2023 | 00:40:47 | |
Dominic is joined by the wonderful award winning food historian Pen Vogler who returns to the podcast to talk about Dickensian Christmas Dinners ... If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| The Lost Portrait: with Emma Rutherford | 19 Dec 2023 | 00:40:00 | |
Dominic’s guest today is the inimitable Emma Rutherford who recalls her time working on the rediscovery of a lost portrait of Dickens, painted by Margaret Gillies in 1843, and lost for over a century until its serendipitous reappearance at a South African auction. A pivotal snapshot of Dickens' life, the portrait's story hints at the profound bond between Gillies and Dickens, a bond that may have helped shape A Christmas Carol Her publications include Without Hands The Art of Sarah Biffin … a topic for a future episode! If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| "Christmas at Dingley Dell": Read by Gina Beck | 18 Dec 2023 | 00:11:30 | |
Light up your holiday season with the enchanting narration of our guest, the brilliant Gina Beck as she transports us to the charm and warmth of a festive journey from Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers in a way that is sure to stir the Christmas spirit in you. Reading adapted from Chapter 28 of the Pickwick Papers by Dominic Gerrard … If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Charles Ignatius Sancho: with Paterson Joseph | 15 Dec 2023 | 00:50:24 | |
The award-winning actor and writer Patterson Joseph takes the listener on a fascinating journey into the captivating life of Charles Ignatius Sancho, an African man who found favour among the highest reaches of 18th-century British society, and who had a front-row seat to the infamous Gordon Riots of 1780 ... If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Palimpsest: with Céleste Callen | 13 Dec 2023 | 00:25:20 | |
Celeste Callen returns to share her insights on how Henri Bergson's theories of the 'superficial self' and the 'mechanical man' permeate through Dickens' novels such as The Signal-Man, Bleak House, Hard Times, The Chimes, and Master Humphrey's Clock If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| The Haunted Actor: with James Swanton | 02 Dec 2023 | 00:47:04 | |
Dominic is joined by the inimitable James Swanton who is performing A Christmas Carol, The Chimes and Haunted Man in person this year at the Dickens Museum. And for those of you listening outside the UK you can watch a live stream of his Haunted Man - filmed inside number 48 Doughty Street - on the 11th December. His inspirations are far ranging, and a brilliant English teacher by the name of Mr Crisp who took James under his wing when he was at secondary school and set him on the path that he still treads today … If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Stuffed (A History of Good Food and Hard Times in Britain): with Pen Vogler | 27 Nov 2023 | 00:31:28 | |
Dominic is joined by the award-winning author and food historian Pen Vogler who offers insightful reflections on how Charles Dickens used food as complex metaphors in his novels, that reflect the psychological and societal shifts during the Victorian era. The richly detailed food descriptions in works like A Christmas Carol and Little Dorrit reflect not just the era's celebrated dining etiquettes but sometimes Dickens' own discomfort in these settings. If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| The Gunpowder Plot (from 'A Child's History of England') 📚 : Read by Dominic Gerrard | 05 Nov 2023 | 00:19:35 | |
Host Dominic Gerrard reads Dickens' account of The Gunpowder Plot from his 1851 A Child's History of England ... If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Mrs Dickens: with Emily Howes | 11 Apr 2024 | 00:36:22 | |
Dominic is joined by the inimitable Emily Howes, author of The Painters Daughters, who is currently writing her second book, Mrs Dickens, all about the life of Catherine Hogarth and her marriage to Charles Dickens … Emily is an alumna of Cambridge University, where she was a member of the famous Footlights. After gaining a First in English, she studied Lecoq at the London School of Performing Arts. She then went on to create work for theatre, radio and television. Highlights including two series of her show The Ladies BBC Radio 4, and performing in Tim Minchin’s Rocking On for BBC Radio 2. Emily is also a recipient of the Hans Cohn Scholarship for the study of existential pyscotherapy … If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Charles and Catherine: with Helena Kelly | 01 Nov 2023 | 00:25:54 | |
It is Publication Eve for today’s guest the inimitable Dr. Helena Kelly. Her latest book The Life & Lies of Charles Dickens (published by Icon Books) lifts the cover on what we think we know about Dickens from his friend and sanctioned biographer John Forster. In this episode we try to spend some time with Dickens’ wife Catherine, and understand the enormous struggles they both went through: when Charles’ genius sent their lives into the stratosphere, right from the very start of their marriage, at a time when no-one had written the handbook yet on how to cope with global fame … If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| THE SIGNAL-MAN 📚: with John Bowen | 26 Oct 2023 | 00:42:08 | |
Dominic is joined by the inimitable Professor John Bowen who returns to this series to explore the hidden depths beneath the pages of one of Dickens' most iconic ghost stories -The Signal-Man If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| THE LAZY TOUR OF TWO IDLE APPRENTICES 📚: with Dr. Emily Bell | 19 Oct 2023 | 00:51:32 | |
Dominic is joined by the inimitable Dr. Emily Bell who guides the listener through the rollercoaster that is Charles Dickens & Wilkie Collins' Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices - a unique blend of travel writing and ghost stories seen through the eyes of the quintessentially British characters of Francis Goodchild and Thomas Idle, who amusingly mirror their creators, Dickens and Collins If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| The Shorthand Mysteries: with Dr. Claire Wood & Prof. Hugo Bowles | 12 Oct 2023 | 00:31:48 | |
Are you an unsung codebreaker? Does your knowledge and feel for Dickens mean that you could be the next person to crack some of the hieroglyphic mystery of the shorthand system that Dickens created for himself. Or are you able to trace the source of the writings that Dickens read from whilst dictating to his pupil Arthur Stone …? A year ago Dominic caught up with Dr. Claire Wood & Prof. Hugo Bowles on their extraordinary Dickens Code project. Since they last spoke, Claire and Hugo have not only won the Research Project of the Year: Times Higher Education Award but have now - for the very first time - pooled all of Dickens’ surviving shorthand manuscripts into one place in a special online exhibition entitled - Decoding Dickens: The Shorthand Mysteries … If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Copperfield, Chuzzlewit ... Partridge? : with Armando Iannucci | 29 Sep 2023 | 00:41:54 | |
Welcome to this special one-on-one chat with Armando Iannucci - one of the leading comedy writers and political satirists of our time - where we delve into his literary passions and influences. If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Dickens, Bergson & Time Travel: with Céleste Callen | 21 Sep 2023 | 01:09:34 | |
What does it mean to experience time? Is it a linear journey from past to present, or is it a complex and intricate web of memories, feelings, and experiences? If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD 📚: with Pete Orford | 14 Sep 2023 | 01:21:06 | |
Welcome to a new series of Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire!🔥 Pete has written extensively on Shakespeare, Dickens but also Terry Pratchet, Philip Pulman and JK Rowling. With contributions to The Oxford Handbook and Blackwell Companion to Charles Dickens and he is currently editing Pictures From Italy for Oxford University Press. Pete is also the author of Edwin Drood: Charles Dickens’ unfinished novel and our endless attempts to end it - which means following swiftly on the back of this episode he will be joining us again to talk about all the ‘what if’s’ and conspiracy theories that have sprung up in trying to solve the unanswered questions of what was Dickens going to write next at the point where his novel stops! But right now, in this first part, our focus is on the text that exists … If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Dickens' Handwriting: with Emma Bache | 30 Jun 2023 | 00:55:39 | |
What if their scribbles on paper could reveal intimate details about a person’s character, personality, and even their health? Charles Dickens, one of the greatest authors in the annals of literature, is under the microscope in this riveting conversation with Emma Bache, one of the UK's top graphologists. If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Paul Dombey's Wallpaper: with J.M. Varese | 23 Jun 2023 | 00:42:01 | |
What do luxurious wallpapers, deadly poison, and supernatural elements have in common? Join host Dominic Gerrard for a captivating conversation with novelist and literary historian Jon Michael Varese as we unravel the mysteries of his latest novel, The Company. Set in 1870, this gothic tale follows the Braithwhite family as they grapple with the shocking discovery of a poisonous pigment in their wallpaper business. Jon shares his inspirations for this riveting story and how it mirrors modern issues like climate change and denial of truth. If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| The Mega Dickens Readalong: with Katie Lumsden | 03 Jun 2023 | 00:50:04 | |
Dominic welcomes the brilliant writer Katie Lumsden back to the podcast. Katie has also launched a The Mega Dickens Readalong, where you the listener are all invited to read all of Dickens’ novels in chronological order, so in this episode she shares her impressions of the first five books that have been read by the group so far: Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge. Reading excerpts from these first five novels is the wonderful actress, Olivia Mace. If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| London Tide: with Ben Power | 04 Apr 2024 | 00:29:31 | |
Dominic meets Ben Power backstage at London’s National Theatre who takes a break from rehearsals to talk about London Tide - an exciting new staging of Our Mutual Friend - which he has adapted with songs composed by the award-winning PJ Harvey Ben is a Tony Award winning, and a BAFTA & Olivier Award nominated writer for stage and screen, and an Associate here at the National. His adaptation of The Lehman Trilogy, directed by Sam Mendes, has become an international theatrical juggernaut, playing in London, New York, San Francisco and Sydney. His screen credits include the BBC series The Hollow Crown and Netflix’s Munich: The Edge of War … London Tide runs from 10th April - 22nd June 2024. You can book tickets here If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Bleak Health: with Nicholas Cambridge | 19 May 2023 | 00:46:19 | |
Dominic is joined by Dr. Nicholas Cambridge who is an Honorary Research Fellow in Humanities at the University of Buckingham and a visiting scholar in Medical Humanities at Nova Scotia’s Dalhousie University. After qualifying as an electrical engineer, Nicholas switched career to became a GP and as a medical student won the first ever History of Medicine Prize from the Royal Society Medicine. He then worked for 25 years as a family Doctor in Surrey (in the south of England), but that prize he won as a student nearly 50 years ago seems to have planted a seed that in retirement is now growing to fruition. If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Biddy: with Laurie Ogden | 26 Apr 2023 | 00:22:25 | |
Dominic is joined by the brilliant actress, poet & playwright Laurie Ogden. Together they talk about her experience filming her TV debut as Biddy in FX's Great Expectations ... If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| OLIVER TWIST 📚: with Emily Bell | 11 Apr 2023 | 01:02:39 | |
Dominic is joined by the brilliant Dr. Emily Bell who digs deep into Dickens’ second novel: Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy’s Progress … Emily is a Lecturer in Digital Humanities & Digital Skills at the University of Leeds; and is an alumna of both the University of Warwick (where she read English) and York where she completed her MA and Phd. She is also Editor of The Dickensian and is a researcher and consultant on programmes such the BBC’s Horrible Histories and Homeschool History … In this episode Dominic reads excerpts from not only Oliver Twist but there are also clips from his performance of Sikes and Nancy which was filmed during lockdown at the Charles Dickens Museum - the very building where Dickens’ actually wrote this astonishing book. N.B. This conversation touches on some of the more disturbing themes in the novel - such as Nancy’s murder, Sikes’ hanging, and antisemitism - so just be aware if that’s something you might find difficult to listen to. Enjoy the episode! If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Dickens Re-imagined: with Steven Knight | 30 Mar 2023 | 00:25:50 | |
Dominic is joined by the inimitable Steven Knight who's exciting and daring screenplays include Peaky Blinders, Taboo and SAS Rogue Heroes. If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ..." A Tale of Two Cities (Chapter One): Read by Dominic Gerrard | 24 Mar 2023 | 00:07:15 | |
Host Dominic Gerrard reads the opening chapter of A Tale of Two Cities ... If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Great Adaptations: with Harry Lloyd | 17 Mar 2023 | 00:41:33 | |
Dominic is joined by the inimitable actor and Dickens descendant Harry Lloyd. Together they discuss their first impressions of FX’s new Great Expectations and Harry's experience of playing Dickens characters in previous BBC dramatisations of his Great Great Great Grandfather's works, and his career more widely. If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| UPROAR! with Alice Loxton | 03 Mar 2023 | 00:48:04 | |
Dominic is joined by the inimitable broadcaster & historian Alice Loxton who takes us on a journey into the frenzied and scandalous world of London society in the Georgian Period ... If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| THE BATTLE OF LIFE 📚: with Katie Lumsden | 03 Jan 2023 | 00:40:38 | |
It's the 10th Day of Christmas ... and Dominic is joined by the brilliant writer Katie Lumsden where they attempt to examine, with fresh eyes, Dickens' long forgotten Christmas Book The Battle of Life ... And reading excerpts from The Battle of Life is the wonderful Sophie Reynolds who is the curator at Jane Austens’ House in Chawton. If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Pip's Christmas Dinner: Read by Dominic Gerrard | 25 Dec 2022 | 00:14:43 | |
Dominic reads a Christmas Day excerpt from Chapter IV of Great Expectations where Pip has to sit through the ordeal of a Christmas Dinner with a heavy conscience ... If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| "Come in! and know me better man!" A Christmas Carol (Excerpt): Read by Dominic Gerrard | 24 Dec 2022 | 00:10:59 | |
It's Christmas Eve! And Dominic reads an excerpt from Stave III of A Christmas Carol ... If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| THE GOBLINS WHO STOLE A SEXTON 📚(Then Wrote a Carol & Rang A New Year In!) with Claire Wood | 21 Dec 2022 | 01:11:00 | |
Dominic is joined by the wonderful Dr. Claire Wood again for a special Christmas episode on Charles Dickens' The Story of the Goblins who Stole a Sexton; A Christmas Carol and The Chimes ... If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| A CHRISTMAS CAROL & Other Christmas Books📚: with Robert Douglas Fairhurst | 12 Dec 2022 | 00:57:19 | |
Dominic is joined again by the inimitable Robert Douglas Fairhurst who returns to this series to explore Dickens' five iconic Christmas Books: A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life & The Haunted Man ... If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Rose Theatre A Christmas Carol: with Morgan Lloyd Malcolm | 05 Dec 2022 | 00:45:23 | |
Dominic is joined by the brilliant Morgan Lloyd Malcolm: who’s writing for stage and screen includes her pivotal play Emilia - which won three Olivier Awards when it transferred from Shakespeare’s Globe to the West End - and a soon to be released adaptation of Josephine Hart’s Damage for Moonage, Gaumont & Netflix As a writer Morgan also works extensively with Clean Break: a feminist theatre company that engages and empowers women who have either experience of the criminal justice system or are at risk of entering it. Morgan has also written several pantomimes, and Christmas shows for children. All of these elements of her work have been woven into her magical new adaptation of A Christmas Carol which opens this week at the Rose Theatre, Kingston … The music in this episode is taken from the show itself and has been composed by the hugely talented Eamonn O’Dwyer If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| HARD TIMES 📚: with Gage McWeeny | 21 Nov 2022 | 01:01:55 | |
Dominic is joined by Gage Mcweeny, who is Professor of English at Williams College, Massachusetts. Gage is an alumni of both Columbia and Princeton, with a specialism in nineteenth-century literature; sociology; and culture. His book The Comfort of Strangers: Social Life and Literary Form (OUP) examines that Victorian phenomenon of new people emerging everywhere in the Great Cities as Industrialisation takes its hold in the 19th Century and how authors such as George Eliot, Oscar Wilde, Henry James and of course Dickens respond to it. He also wrote the introduction to the Longman edition of Hard Times. If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| "Implacable November weather ..." Bleak House Chapter One: Read by Dominic Gerrard | 11 Nov 2022 | 00:17:24 | |
Host Dominic Gerrard reads the opening chapter of Bleak House ... If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Hulks, Convicts & Reform: with Anna McKay | 04 Nov 2022 | 00:44:47 | |
Dominic is joined by the brilliant Dr. Anna Mckay who is a social and cultural historian who specialises in both 18th & 19th Century British Maritime history and the methods of confinement that were practised throughout that period. Anna's research has taken her to historic prisoner of war depots and penal colonies across the world. She has also undertaken archival research in the UK, Australia, Bermuda and Canada. Anna is also writing a book on the Hulks and is best placed to tell us how true to life Dickens’ portrayal of Magwitch really is … Reading excerpts from Great Expectations and contemporary newspapers is the inimitable Matt Grinter If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Dickens on Screen: with Andrew Davies | 28 Oct 2022 | 00:37:07 | |
Dominic is joined by the inimitable Andrew Davies whose iconic screen adaptations include Bleak House, Pride & Prejudice, War & Peace, Les Miserablés, Middlemarch, Vanity Fair ... and many more! If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| The Dickens Code: with Hugo Bowles & Claire Wood | 21 Oct 2022 | 01:00:20 | |
In this bumper episode Dominic is joined by the brilliant Prof. Hugo Bowles from Italy's University of Foggia and welcomes back to the series the inimitable Dr. Claire Wood. If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Ghosts at 48 Doughty St: with Emily Dunbar | 05 Oct 2022 | 00:36:03 | |
Dominic is joined by the brilliant Dr. Emily Dunbar, curator at the Charles Dickens Museum in London. If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| The French Revolution: with Adam Zamoyski | 27 Sep 2022 | 00:41:35 | |
Dominic is joined by the fantastic historian Adam Zamoyski who shares his insight into the origins of both Revolutionary thought and action in the last quarter of the 18th Century: what Dickens famously calls 'The Period' in his A Tale of Two Cities ... If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| "The Haunted Man" (Excerpt): Read by Tom Andrews | 02 Jan 2024 | 00:09:32 | |
Our final festive extract comes from Dickens’ last Christmas Book The Haunted Man and The Ghost’s Bargain - read today by the fantastic actor Tom Andrews In the following scene Dr Redlaw - a celebrated chemist and teacher - is sitting down to dinner one Christmas. He is full of grief and feels that each passing year only seems add to the store of regrets and painful memories … Meanwhile the Swidger family: William, Millie, and the elderly Philip, visit Redlaw and gently try to cheer him … If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP 📚: with Claire Wood | 09 Sep 2022 | 01:09:30 | |
Dominic is Joined by the brilliant Dr. Claire Wood, who is a lecturer in Victorian Literature at the University of Leicester and a former research associate at the University of York. Claire’s writing on Dickens includes: Dickens and the Business of Death, published by Cambridge University Press. Claire is also a founder of the Dickens Code which seeks to crack the mysteries of Dickens’ unique form of shorthand - a project that has just been nominated for a Times Education Award .. Also joining us to read extracts from The Old Curiosity Shop the excellent actor, Gunnar Cauthery. If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Dickens and Travel: with Lucinda Hawksley | 19 Aug 2022 | 00:53:00 | |
It's summer ... the perfect time to talk about Dickens' travels abroad. Dominic is joined again by the brilliant Lucinda Hawskley who returns to talk about her new book Dickens and Travel ... A perfect addition to your holiday reading! If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| BLEAK HOUSE 📚: with Stephen Fry | 27 Jul 2022 | 00:48:43 | |
Dominic is joined by the inimitable Stephen Fry who takes the listener on an intricate journey through the fog and mystery of Dickens' thrilling masterpiece: Bleak House If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| "I called myself Pip" Great Expectations Chapter One: Read by Dominic Gerrard | 08 Jul 2022 | 00:12:26 | |
Host Dominic Gerrard reads the opening chapter of Great Expectations ... If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Waterloo: with Bernard Cornwell | 18 Jun 2022 | 00:57:57 | |
On the 207th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo Dominic is joined by the inimitable Bernard Cornwell OBE. If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||
| Dickens in Carrara: with Marzia Dati | 08 May 2022 | 00:39:13 | |
Dominic is joined by Marzia Dati: Professor of English Literature at Liceo Marconi High School and founder of the first Italian Branch of the International Dickens Fellowship, in her home town of Carrara. These marble mountains gave Michelangelo the stone from which he cut the figure of his famous David, and today, if you stand in the lobby of the One World Trade Centre in New York, you will see that its walls are also decorated with Carrara’s unique marble … If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard | |||