 Charles Dickens wrote the Christmas Carol, a much-beloved, time-tested tale about the Christmas spirits. He also is the namesake of our annual Save Like the Dickens sale – a time when you can save, well…like the Dickens! To honor this great author, we’ve researched this great author and found some interesting facts. For instance, did you know that Charles Dickens’ nickname was Boz? Or that he had a nickname for each of his children? How about his obsessive compulsive tendencies? Read on for more tantalizing tidbits.· Obsessive-Compulsive Tendencies. Dickens was obsessed with arranging and combing his hair hundreds of times a day, glancing in the mirror constantly. He also was very preoccupied with rearranging his furniture for optimum concentration; apparently he couldn’t think well unless each chair or table was in a “correct” place. Take his bedroom, for instance. He made sure that his bed was aligned in a north-south position because of magnetic fields. Also, he touched many objects three times for luck. He would be an excellent friend to have, though, as he cleaned other people’s homes as well as his own because of his need for cleanliness.
· Nicknames. Dickens gave each of his children (he had ten of them!) nicknames such as Plorn and Skittles. Charles had a nickname as well, Boz, (he also used this occasionally as a pen name) which originated from Charles’ younger brother Augustus, whose nickname was Moses. Moses was pronounced Boses, which eventually became shorted to Boz. Wow. I guess nicknames are just that hard to explain. · Epilepsy. Many doctors are amazed at the accuracy of Dickens’ description of epilepsy; unfortunately for Charles, this came from personal experience, as Dickens himself suffered from the disease. · Trickster. Before he moved into a new house, Dickens designed a secret door for his study; one that appeared to be a bookcase. The bookcase held many hilarious titles, including a nine-volume set entitled Cat’s Lives, and another called Noah’s Arkitecture. Apparently he like puns as well – another book was entitled The Gunpowder Magazine. · A Not So Inviting Host. Dickens was friends with the well-known Hans Christian Anderson – so much so that Anderson dedicated his book, Poet’s Day Dream to Dickens. One fateful day, during a visit, Andersen awoke to find a sign hung above his mirror, stating: “Hans Andersen slept in this room for five weeks, which seemed to the family like AGES.” Hmmm…but maybe we should cut poor Charles some slack – his daughter later wrote that Andersen was a “bore…who stayed on and on.” · Hypnotist. Hypnotism, anyone? Dickens had a hobby – namely, hypnotism, otherwise known as mesmerizing. He enjoyed mesmerizing his friends and family, in an attempt to heal them from sickness. · Multi-Tasker. Dickens many times started writing something new before finishing what he was currently working on. This happened with Oliver Twist, which he began in the middle of The Pickwick Papers, and Nicholas Nickleby, which was started in the middle of Oliver Twist. |
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3 comments
Sandy Natham says:
December 15, 2009 at 11:37 am (UTC -7 )
Anyway, once a again a great post and worth a bookmark and from me thank you.
zan says:
December 19, 2009 at 6:01 pm (UTC -7 )
Thank you- we really appreciate the feedback – and the bookmark!
zan says:
March 20, 2010 at 8:10 am (UTC -7 )
I’m so glad you enjoyed reading! We really appreciate feedback, so thank you so much for commenting. If you are interested in reading more, I suggest signing up for our newsletter (which can be accessed by clicking the “newsletter” tab in the sidebar above); we sometimes include information that doesn’t get on the website. We look forward to interacting with you as well -thanks again!