DICKENS & CHRISTMAS (not a Christmas Carol) with Elizabeth Neales and Margaret & John Leonard

The lecture will explain how Christmas celebrations owe much to the influence of Charles Dickens. Apart from the well-known ‘Christmas Carol’, there are many other writings which show the author’s belief that Christmas should be a time of family unity and general benevolence. Margaret and John Leonard will give dramatised readings from some of these writings.

ELISABETH NEALES is a graduate of Oxford University and has taught English and History in secondary schools in England and Australia. She is currently Secretary of the Dickens Fellowship Melbourne Branch. JOHN AND MARGARET LEONARD have diverse experience with the performing arts and now delight in sharing their enthusiasm for literary classics through dramatised readings.

John Leech (1817 – 1864) (illustrator), Mr. Fezziwig’s Ball, from DICKENS, Charles, A Christmas Carol, Chapman and Hall, London, 1843 29