Dickensblog

The parkour 'Twist'

Looks like they're going ahead with it.

In other film news . . . the first still photos are available from The Invisible Woman. Whoopie. (I may have to follow the news about this film, but I'm darned if I have to like it.)

Found the stamps!

There are pictures and everything!

I think they forgot something

BBC News announced the creation of six new Oliver Twist stamps.

With no pictures of the stamps.

Harrumph.

7 Quick Takes Friday

• Naxos is releasing all 16 of Dickens's major novels as audiobooks, in both abridged and unabridged versions, for the bicentennial. Visit their page for more information and to download their Dickens podcasts. And The Dabbler blog is exclusively serializing their abridged version of The Pickwick Papers.
• Actor Stephen Fry gave away free copies of A Tale of Two Cities on the set of his new film for World Book Night, earlier this week.
• Speaking of free books, the library system in Sheffield, England, is giving away 1500 free copies of Oliver Twist in honor of the bicentennial. Very nice, but since it's Sheffield, shouldn't it be David Copperfield instead? (You know, "Confusion to Brooks of Sheffield!")
• And speaking of Oliver Twist, Robin Stone of the Globe and Mail tells a terrific story about how she got both herself and her nine-year-old son hooked on the children's edition of that book. Kudos to both of them!
• Here's an interesting tale about why Dickens gave away his personal copy of David Copperfield.
• Rabbit Run Theater in Madison, Ohio, is going to be doing three different Dickens plays this summer and fall, and the nearby Lodge at Geneva-on-the-Lake is offering special packages that include overnight stays and tickets to see the performances. Read all about it here.
• Filming has started on The Invisible Woman. Can't say I'm too thrilled about seeing Dickens get the National Enquirer treatment, which is what I'm afraid this is going to be. In other movie news, the new independent film Nancy, Please tells the story of a graduate student who gets into a violent conflict with his old roommate over, of all things, a copy of Little Dorrit. Here's an interview with the director.

7 Quick Takes Friday

• I called it, I called it! Just a week and a half after I suggested watching for Dickens references on CBS's Person of Interest, they obligingly gave us one. Harold Finch rattled off the title, author, publication dates, and a one-sentence summary of Our Mutual Friend after having been drugged, a feat I'm not at all sure I could accomplish myself. Well played, sir!
• BBC Daytime has commissioned an updated adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby, to air in the fall. Instead of a boarding school, Nicholas (or "Nick") will work in a home for the elderly.
• London is doing its first Cityread, and the book they've chosen is Oliver Twist. Read all about the event here!
• As it happens, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is also featuring Oliver Twist in their One Book/One Community event. Danny Heitman of the Advocate has a nice piece about that here.
• A group of teen artists in New York has put together a special exhibit inspired by the bicentennial, called "Sketching the City."
• How's this for a prize? To raise money for the restoration of his Swiss chalet, the Rochester and Chatham Dickens Fellowship is raffling off a strand of Dickens's hair!
• Speaking of raffles, don't forget to enter ours! We don't have anything quite that cool, but we do have a copy of the Great Expectations miniseries, and your money will go to help either sick kids or human trafficking victims -- your choice.

7 Quick Takes Friday

• If you're a U.K. resident, you could win a private tour of the Museum of London's Dickens and London exhibition. See the Guardian for details.
• Dickens Journals Online completed their project of putting all of Household Words and All the Year Round online. They're holding a launch conference at the end of March at the University of Buckingham, in conjunction with the University of Leicester.
• The site Dickens Daily is publishing all the novels serially online, one installment per day.
• PBS's Masterpiece has its Great Expectations page up.
• In a video interview with Access Hollywood, Holliday Grainger talks about filming the other Great Expectations (in which she plays Estella), and how much she enjoyed speaking her favorite line from the book.
• The Huffington Post has an interesting article about biblical references in Oliver Twist.
• Marlborough School in Falmouth came up with some fun ways of celebrating Dickens (and had to correct one child who thought Dickens invented the Muppets).

The best of times: Notes from my bicentenary trip

By David Perdue, Guest Blogger

Upon my return from London for events surrounding the Dickens Bicentenary. I received an email from a fellow Dickens Web site owner, Ritva Raesmaa, from Finland. She also attended the events, although sadly I did not meet her. She summed up the few days in London as a “once in a lifetime” trip . . . and I heartily agree!

Two queens, two Miss Havishams, Fagin, and Charles Dickens

. . . at yesterday's royal reception. Not even Dickens himself could have come up with such a scenario. (Though Jasper Fforde might.) 

All photos copyright the Mail Online.

A celebration fit for a queen

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip will attend a new play full of Dickens characters, starring Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Bond, and Matthew Kelly (who was in the Bleak House miniseries), and will hold a reception in Dickens's honor this evening, where the guests will include Rowan Atkinson (from Oliver! in the West End), Helena Bonham Carter, and Ralph Fiennes (both from Great Expectations).

The big day in pictures

Members of the Dickens family (image copyright Alpha Press/The Telegraph).