DRINKING WITH DICKENS AND MR PICKWICK
A PICKWICKIAN EVENING ON THE 211TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF CHARLES DICKENS
IAN DICKENS (Great Great Grandson of Charles Dickens)CHAIRED BY SAVILIAN MIKE BALFOUR
London’s taverns, convivial drinking parties, and opposition to the temperance movement were prominent features of the life and literature of Dickens. We shall start the evening with a steaming glass of hot punch, and progress from his earliest writings to the end of his life through the lens of the bottle, accompanied by excerpts and samples.
Ian Dickens is the Mr Pickwick (Chairman) of the Dickens Pickwick Club, and immediate Past President of the Dickens Fellowship. His background is in Marketing, Photography and Sailing. He is a 2000 veteran of The Times Clipper Round the World Yacht Race (11 months, 36,000 miles), which led to his book ‘Sea Change’, and was Marketing Director of the Race 2008-2010. In 2018 he retired to the Isle of Wight where he is a volunteer for the Ellen Macarthur Teenage Cancer Trust.
Savilian Mike Balfour is a Dickens enthusiast, Treasurer of the Dickens Pickwick Club, and has been leader of UK literature tours for American students.
