History this week. December 27th, 1853.

I'm Sally Helm.

Charles Dickens likes to prepare for a reading with a series of rituals,

aimed at protecting his voice and maybe loosening up for the performance.

For breakfast, he'll have two tablespoons of rum with cream.

At tea time, a pint of champagne,

and soon before he steps on stage, he'll gulp down a raw egg beaten with sherry.

Delicious!

On this cold night, two days after Christmas, Dickens is preparing for the first public reading

of one of his best known works,

A Christmas Carol.

The story of Tiny Tim and of the Christmas villain Ebenezer Scrooge.

When a Christmas Carol was first published in 1843, 10 years before this reading,

it sold out in three days.

Charles Dickens has become a literary superstar.

On this night at the town hall in Birmingham, England,

2,000 people gather to hear him read the story aloud.

The newspaper reports that the drawing room is decorated with wreaths of Holly,

that the lights are brilliant, that the people are lively and happy.

Dickens steps out in front of the crowd and settles himself into an armchair.

He's dressed in holiday splendor,

complete with a purple waistcoat and a diamond-studded evening jacket.

...