Cedric Charles Dickens Charles Dickens, he also worked to preserve the heritage of the George and Vulture in the City of London, which was frequently mentioned in "The Pickwick Papers", where Charles Dickens himself often drank, and which was threatened with demolition; and Gads Hill Place in Kent, Dicken's final home, becoming a governor of Gad's Hill School, which occupies the building today. In 2005 he appeared in the first episode of BBC Four's documentary series "Dickens in America" with Miriam Margolyes, during which he talked about what it was like growing up as a member of the Dickens family. Dickens suffered a
Charles Dickens 1860s to 'do the slums' and, in company, Dickens visited opium dens in Shadwell, where he witnessed an elderly addict known as "Laskar Sal", who formed the model for the "Opium Sal" subsequently featured in his mystery novel, "Edwin Drood". After Dickens had regained sufficient strength, he arranged, with medical approval, for a final series of readings to partially make up to his sponsors what they had lost due to his illness. There were to be 12 performances, running between 11 January and 15 March 1870, the last at 8:00 pm at St. James's Hall in London. Although in grave