Gradgrind Gradgrind Mr Thomas Gradgrind is the notorious school board Superintendent in Dickens's novel "Hard Times" who is dedicated to the pursuit of profitable enterprise. His name is now used generically to refer to someone who is hard and only concerned with cold facts and numbers. In the story, the man himself he was the father of five children, naming them after prominent utilitarians such as Robert Malthus. He also ran a model school where young pupils were treated as machines pitchers which were to be filled to the brim with facts. This satirised Scottish philosopher James Mill who attempted to
Dickens in America Dickens in America Dickens in America is a 2005 television documentary following Charles Dickens' travels across the United States in 1842, during which the young journalist penned a travel book, "American Notes". In "Dickens In America", distinguished British actress Miriam Margolyes, a lifelong fan of Dickens, follows Dickens' 1842 American footsteps while encountering 21st-century US and some of its residents. Interspersing history, travelogue and interviews, "Dickens In America" offers insight into Charles Dickens' love/hate relationship with North America and paints a personal and revealing portrait of modern-day US. This 10-part road trip is suffused with optimism, a social conscience and