Cnarles Dickens was one of the greatest writers of his or any other time. His works examine the human condition, and deal with lust for power, arrogrance, kindness, the cruelty and triumphs of life.

This is a brief outline of the man, his work and why his legacy is so important.

Copyright beling to originators for all clips used 

CONTENTS
Excerpt - The Life and Times of David Copperfield
Clips
Hard Times - Granada Television 1977 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbDhtkwoDHg
Oliver! (1968) - Please Sir, I Want Some More Scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYCu9-r6B8E
Excerpt - Dombey and Son
Mr Jingle is exposed in the Postumous Pickwick Papers (1985 BBC adaptation of The Pickwick Papers)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2rmh_bQd0w
Excerpt
David Copperfield meets Mr Macorber - The Life and Times of David Copperfield
A christmas carol, possibly the best adaptation, with Alastair Simm as Scrooge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPceYjVQVnw
The Old Curiosity Shop - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CSWj8fcfUE
A full read of the short story 'The Signalman'.


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A srudent recieves an unexpected visitor. A message is conveyed, a promise is kept.

H.P. Lovecraft wrote of Blackwood: "He is the one absolute and unquestioned master of weird atmosphere." His powerful story "The Willows," which effectively describes another dimension impinging upon our own, was reckoned by Lovecraft to be not only "foremost of all" Blackwood's tales but the best "weird tale" of all time.

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Episode One: Introduction

The Time Machine is an 1895 dystopian post-apocalyptic science fiction novella by H. G. Wells about a Victorian scientist known as the Time Traveller who travels to the year 802,701. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively forward or backward through time. The term "time machine", coined by Wells, is now almost universally used to refer to such a vehicle or device

Episode two next Saturday night.

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The spirit of Baelbrow was a inoffensive and unintrusive ghost. But something changed. And not for the better.

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The Juniper Tree" (also "The Almond Tree"; Low German: Von dem Machandelboom) is a German fairy tale published in Low German by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1812 (KHM 47).The story contains themes of child abuse, murder, cannibalism and biblical symbolism and is one of the Brothers Grimm's darker and more mature fairy tales. The tale is of Aarne–Thompson type 720 ("The Juniper Tree"). Another such tale is the English "The Rose-Tree", although it reverses the sexes from "The Juniper Tree"; "The Juniper Tree" follows the more common pattern of having the dead child be a boy.

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James Thurber is one of the funniest writers of his age, or most other age. I recommend him highly. His works are touching, nostaligic, well observed and above all, funny. He wrote the Secret Life of Walter Mitty

His memorial is in trouble; The Thurber House is a non-profit which introduces people to his life and work. They need to raise $200,000 to keep going for another 40 years.

Any revenue generated from these reads will go to them. Or you can donate directly through their website here.



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Fleeing the crooks at Pencey Prep, he pinballs around New York City seeking solace in fleeting encounters—shooting the bull with strangers in dive hotels, wandering alone round Central Park, getting beaten up by pimps and cut down by erstwhile girlfriends. The city is beautiful and terrible, in all its neon loneliness and seedy glamour, its mingled sense of possibility and emptiness. Holden passes through it like a ghost, thinking always of his kid sister Phoebe, the only person who really understands him, and his determination to escape the phonies and find a life of true meaning.
The Catcher in the Rye is an all-time classic in coming-of-age literature- an elegy to teenage alienation, capturing the deeply human need for connection and the bewildering sense of loss as we leave childhood behind.

J.D. Salinger's (1919–2010) classic novel of teenage angst and rebellion was first published in 1951. The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. It was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. It has been frequently challenged in the court for its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality and in the 1950's and 60's it was the novel that every teenage boy wants to read.

Amazon
Cheaper

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"Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection Grimms' Fairy Tales, numbered as Tale 53. The original title was Sneewittchen, which is a partial translation from Low German. The modern spelling is Schneewittchen. The Grimms completed their final revision of the story in 1854, which can be found in the 1857 version of Grimms' Fairy Tales.The fairy tale features elements such as the magic mirror, the poisoned apple, the glass coffin, and the characters of the Evil Queen and the seven Dwarfs. The seven dwarfs were first given individual names in the 1912 Broadway play Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and then given different names in Walt Disney's 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The Grimm story, which is commonly referred to as "Snow White", should not be confused with the story of "Snow-White and Rose-Red" (in German "Schneeweißchen und Rosenrot"), another fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm.In the Aarne–Thompson folklore classification, tales of this kind are grouped together as type 709, Snow White. Others of this kind include "Bella Venezia", "Myrsina", "Nourie Hadig", "Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree",[4] "The Young Slave", and "La petite Toute-Belle".

From Wikipedia. More here

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"The Haunted Doll's House" is a 1923 short story by M. R. James, collected by him in A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories. It was commissioned by Queen Mary, wife of George V, as a miniature book for her famous Dolls' House, which can still be seen in Windsor Castle. It is in many ways a typical James story, thematically linked to other works of his, especially "The Mezzotint"

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Dwan Ev ceremoniously soldered the final connection with gold. The eyes of a dozen television cameras watched him and the subether bore throughout the universe a dozen pictures of what he was doing.

He straightened and nodded to Dwar Reyn, then moved to a position beside the switch that would complete the contact when he threw it. The switch that would connect, all at once, all of the monster computing machines of all the populated planets in the universe -- ninety-six billion planets -- into the supercircuit that would connect them all into one supercalculator, one cybernetics machine that would combine all the knowledge of all the galaxies.

Dwar Reyn spoke briefly to the watching and listening trillions. Then after a moment's silence he said, "Now, Dwar Ev."

Dwar Ev threw the switch. There was a mighty hum, the surge of power from ninety-six billion planets. Lights flashed and quieted along the miles-long panel.

Dwar Ev stepped back and drew a deep breath. "The honor of asking the first question is yours, Dwar Reyn."

"Thank you," said Dwar Reyn. "It shall be a question which no single cybernetics machine has been able to answer."

He turned to face the machine. "Is there a God?"

The mighty voice answered without hesitation, without the clicking of a single relay.

"Yes, now there is a God."

Sudden fear flashed on the face of Dwar Ev. He leaped to grab the switch.

A bolt of lightning from the cloudless sky struck him down and fused the switch shut.


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