Welcome to the History Extra Podcast, fascinating historical conversations from BBC History Magazine

and BBC History Revealed.

From grimy back alleys and ghastly church yards to debtous prisons and old curiosity shops,

Os Dickens evoked a vision of Victorian London that's still vivid today, and as Lee Jackson

reveals in his new book Dickensland, ever since these books were published, literary fans

have visited London to seek out traces of this lost world that Dickens described.

I spoke to Lee to find out more.

Thank you so much for joining me, Lee.

My first question to you.

How has Dickens become so intrinsically linked with London?

Dickens is the London writer right here.

He was described by one critic in the late 19th century as a special correspondent for

posterity, and he writes in such detail about the city, and he walked the city looking

for locations for his book.

When people scout for film locations, Dickens was very much looking for those books,

and he's a very visual writer, intensely visual, goes in from the sort of biggest panoramas

of London life, fog sweeping over the whole of River Thames to the smallest possible

detail.

So, I think we think of his world in very visual terms, and I think that draws people

in.

Absolutely.

What do you think it is that is drawing people in there?

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