WHAT?  Faithful Companions: Charles Dickens & his Pets 

WHERE?  The Charles Dickens Museum, 48-49 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2 LX

WHEN?  Now until 12th January 2025 

WHY GO?  To unleash your love of animals!  Every Dickens book is a gem and every book makes a mention somewhere, somehow of an animal whether friendly or fearsome. 

Remember Bull’s-Eye, the vicious bull terrier in Oliver Twist and Grip, the chatty raven in Barnaby Rudge who terrorised the coachman? 

There’s usually an animal lurking within the tale and many were inspired by Dickens' own menagerie of pets in his hectic household full of children.  Indeed the children owned a pet raven that wreaked havoc at home and was undoubtedly the inspiration for fictitious Grip.  The great man himself was a passionate dog lover. 

This niche little exhibition is the first to focus on the animals that inspired the famous author; he wrote them into stories and displays rarely seen photos and illustrations that depict them throughout the pages along with readings by actors like Simon Callow. Hand-written letters and family photo albums reveal how much love the Dickens family felt for their pets with Bob the cat, a wily favourite who learned how to turn off his master's gas lamp to gain praise.

It’s heaven sent for parents who want something creative for kids, who are invited to don costumes and get into character. 

Though quite how a frazzled mother might cope if her toddler squawked like Grip all day, leaves little to the imagination!

IN THE KNOW  The Bloomsbury home Dickens shared with his family for just two years and where he wrote Oliver Twist was not far from bustling Smithfield Market.  He would have been inspired by teams of cattle being led to market, dogs roaming wild and horses pulling carts and omnibuses.  Victorian daily life provided atmospheric fodder for his fertile creative mind, as portrayed in the atmospheric Museum.