1. Common questions of
Charles Dickens
a keynote by Lachlan Knowles

2. Who was he?
Charles Dickens, or Charles John Huffam
Dickens, was a writer who lived from 7 February
1812 to 9 June 1870. He wrote many famous
books including Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol
and many more. He is regarded by most as the
greatest novelist of the Victorian period.

3. Why is he so famous?
Dickens fame began when the Pickwick Papers
was published as a series. After a while he was an
internationally known celebrity and people were
lining up for his books. Dickens has written many
books and all of the are good

4. What did he do?
Dickens did many things in his life but his sole
occupation was writing he was a journalist and a
novelist and worked, for a short time, at a boot
blackener factory. Raising children and having two
wives were another two things that he did
among many others.

5. When did he write?
Dickens wrote throughout his fifty-eight
year long life and wrote many books and
hundreds of short stories that were
published in many papers.

6. Where did he write/
live?
Dickens was travelling while he was a journalist
and so writ whenever he could early on. Later he
settled down and wrote the rest of his works.
He also had a few moves once he had settled
down and had a couple of wives as well leaving
one for an actress he had hired.

7. How did he start
writing?
Dickens originally wanted to become a famous
actor. He was going to go to an audition that he
missed because of the flu. Still thinking of fame,
he published his first story a year later: “A
Dinner at Poplar Walk”. As he was writing his
first few stories and novels, he was also doing the
job of a journalist. So he had plenty of practise to
write all day every day.

8. How do we still now
about him?
We know about Dickens not only because of his
many famous books but also his influence in the
English language. He made up many common
idioms and phrases not unlike Shakespeare did.
The difference between these two famous
writers is that Dickens was much more famous in
his own time instead of after he died like
Shakespeare.

9. Bibliography
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Charles_Dickens