Events

The world is celebrating Charles Dickens’ 200th birthday today – February 7.

It’s 200 years since his birth and there’s good reason to mark the big day!

We’re taking a closer look at Dickens in 1:12 scale miniatures, staring with this scene from A Christmas Carol by dolls’ house modeller Anne Thomas, from Cumbria.

She has created a series of masterpieces, many of which are on display for visitors to The Dolls House Emporium shop at Houghton Hall Garden Centre, near Carlisle.

She says: “The idea of the room boxes started out as just one box and grew from there.

“I have loved a Christmas Carol since I was ten years old – that’s a long time – in addition I feel I have an affinity with Dickens in that whilst researching my Usher Family History I found that my Great, Great Grandfather James Usher, who owned the Hare & Hounds Inn at Pickwick, near Corsham in Wiltshire, was there at the time of one of Charles Dickens’ visits.

“That gives me a great feeling that my ancestor was host to Dickens himself.”

Here at Dolls’ House HQ in Ripley we have some more, with Estella and Pip from Great Expectations, Oliver Twist (asking for more food!) and The Old Curiosity Shop, which you are likely to have seen before…

Around the UK, events today include The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall visiting the Charles Dickens Museum before attending a wreath-laying at Westminster Abbey. The Westminster Abbey event was due to feature readings from actor Ralph Fiennes and author Claire Tomalin.

There are also premieres of new films inspired by Dickens.

And world-wide, the British Council‘s 24-hour Global Dickens Read-a-thon will take place in 24 countries from Albania to Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, have you created a Dickensian miniature scene you’d like to share with the readers of this blog?

We’ve got a few copies left of the classic David Lean classic 1948 film Great Expectations starring John Mills and Valerie Hobson to give away on DVD to people who send in a photo of their Dickensian dolls’ house scene.

Please send the images to competitionsecretary@dollshouse.co.uk before the end of this week

You don’t need a Dickens’ doll in your scene – it’s the Victorian setting and what you’ve done with it that we’ll be happy to share.

You don’t need us to tell you about the growing popularity of dolls’ houses…

(more…)

Dolls’ houses can have many associations and some become historical artefacts shedding light on a different age.  (more…)

The BBC is celebrating the run-up to the bicentenary of Charles Dickens’ birth in February next year both on radio and television. (more…)

A few weeks ago, we featured an item on a dolls’ house that caused quite a stir with shoppers in Bromsgrove High Street. (more…)