Charles Dickens

• 2012 is the Charles Dickens bicentenary year. These pages guide you to some of the best sites where you can find out about his life and works

• Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on 7th February 1812. Dickens 2012 is the official site for the international celebration of the bicentenary and is your main guide to events across the country

Quiz

• To test your knowledge and for the chance to win an iPod Shuffle, try the Charles Dickens Quiz provided by Oxford University Press. There is also a children's quiz with a prize of £30 worth of OUP books. Closing date for adult and children's quizzes is 30th March 2012

Did you know?

• Did you know that Dickens sat in a very particular way when he wrote? To find out how, and why, log in to Credo Reference, search Charles Dickens, select the result from the 'The Hutchinson unabridged encyclopedia with atlas and weather guide' and scroll down to the 'Did you know?' section

Dickens's life

• The Dickens page on the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) is freely available online without logging in

• Also freely available is an ODNB special themed page about Dickens, with links to a selection of ODNB biographies of men and women with close ties to him

• You can read all other ODNB biographies and themed pages by logging in to the ODNB

• A very concise timeline of Dickens's life is at the Charles Dickens page of Portcities London

• BBC News Magazine, Charles Dickens - Six things he gave the modern world A summary of Dickens's legacy relating to Christmas, views on poverty, comedy, cinema and more

• BBC Historic Figures, Charles Dickens (1812 -1970) A concise summary of his life and works

• National Archives podcast, Charles Dickens, Warren's Blacking and the Chancery Court An account of how "At the age of 12, the delicate and genteelly brought up Charles Dickens was plunged into employment in a boot-blacking factory, while his father was incarcerated in Marshalsea debtors' prison. These events traumatised the young Dickens, and greatly influenced his future work."

•  Dickens died on 9th June 1870 and was buried at Westminster Abbey

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