Name: Lecture by Roger Askew on 'Charles Dickens - The Great Performer'. Free to members; 7.50 to visitors
Start: 2024-12-11T10:30:00+00:00
Location: Abbey Theatre - St Albans

Lecture by Roger Askew on 'Charles Dickens - The Great Performer'. Free to members; 7.50 to visitors

There will be mince pies in the Foyer before the lecture
This most celebrated of Victorian novelists, Charles Dickens led a life as colourful as any of his characters. From his earliest days he was a consummate performer, as actor and reader. However he lived two lives, one public, one private. This lecture will examine the huge popularity he came to enjoy in his lifetime in contrast to the unsteady nature of his personal life. We shall revisit the unique world he created in his 16 novels, his Christmas stories and numerous articles, as relevant and as entertaining today as in 19th century Britain.
Roger was a chorister at Wells Cathedral School and a choral scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he graduated with an honours degree in English. He combined a teaching career with professional singing in London, and after obtaining a further degree in Music became Director of Music at Daniel Stewart’s and Melville College in Edinburgh. After retiring in 2003 he returned to the south of England. He is President Emeritus of The Stoke Poges Society.