Cedric Charles Dickens the Dickens Fellowship, a worldwide association of people who share an interest in the life and works of Charles Dickens, first taking that position on the death of his father in 1968, and again on his retirement in 1976, when he also founded the Dickens Pickwick Club, a society with an international membership. This he kept true to the spirit of the original in "The Pickwick Papers" by only allowing men to join, which in 2000 led to an accusation of sexism. In demand internationally as a guest and speaker at meetings of Dickens Fellowships and other events connected with
Sam Weller Widdowson Sam Weller Widdowson Sam Weller Widdowson (born Hucknall Torkard, 16 April 1851, died Beeston, 9 May 1927) was an English sportsman of the Victorian era. He played cricket for Nottinghamshire and association football for Nottingham Forest and also played once for the England national football team, against Scotland in 1880. Widdowson is also credited with inventing football shin pads in 1874 when he cut down a pair of cricket pads and strapped them outside his stockings. Initially, the concept was ridiculed but it soon caught on with other players, and shin pads are now required by the Laws of the