Christmas with Charles Dickens

You're Dead to Me

BBC

Comedy, History

4.7 • 10.9K Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2022

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Greg Jenner is joined by Dr Emily Bell and Mike Wozniak to find out what Christmas was like with Charles Dickens. We take a walk through the many Christmases of the renowned Victorian author. From elephants walking on ice to the family Christmas punch recipe, we take a closer look at the factors that may have influenced some of his most famous works and unpick what the phrase Dickensian has come to mean over the years. Written by Emma Nagouse and Greg Jenner Produced by Emma Nagouse and Greg Jenner Assistant Producer: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow Researcher: Jessica White Project Management: Isla Matthews Audio Producer: Steve Hankey The Athletic production for BBC Radio 4

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts
0:04.7	Hello and welcome to your Dead To Me, the BBC Radio 4 comedy podcast that takes history
0:11.6	seriously.
0:12.6	My name is Greg Jenner, I'm a public historian author and broadcaster, and in the immortal
0:16.6	world of Noddy Holder, it's Christmas!
0:20.8	So we're back.
0:21.8	Briefly, to give you a one-off seasonal stocking filler dedicated to Mr Christmas himself,
0:26.7	not Noddy Holder.
0:27.7	Now, the famous Victorian author Charles Dickens, and today we're going to be looking at how
0:32.3	he celebrated Christmas throughout his life.
0:34.6	So it's not a conventional biography, this is a Christmas biography.
0:37.8	We've invented a new genre of storytelling.
0:40.4	And joining me on this jolly jaunt through Christmas's past are two very special guests.
0:44.0	In History Corner, she's a lecturer in digital humanities at the University of Leeds, specializing
0:48.6	in 19th century literature.
0:50.2	She's the editor of the Dickensian, the oldest academic journal in Dickens Studies, and
0:54.3	also edited the recent book Dickens After Dickens, it's Dr Emily Bell.
0:58.0	Hi, Emily, welcome to the podcast, and your surname is actually quite Christmasy.
1:01.2	Hooray!
1:02.2	Hooray, yes, hello, I'm feeling appropriately festive and it's pleasure to be here.
1:06.6	Thank you for coming.
1:08.3	And in comedy corner, making a triumphant turn to the show, he's a comedian, actor, podcaster,
	...

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