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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Open Country

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of Britain

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles

BBC Radio 4 LW

Open Country: 22/03/2012

22/03/2012

BBC Radio 4 - Open Country, 22/03/2012

Open Country explores the importance of the Kent landscape to Charles Dickens.

In this his bicentenary year, Helen Mark visits the Medway towns in Kent to discover what part the landscape played in Charles Dickens's life and works.

To celebrate the bicentenary of Charles Dickens, Helen Mark visits the Medway towns to find out how important a part the Kent landscape played in Dickens' life and works. Except London - no part of the British Isles features more prominently in Dickens' life than Kent. "Kent Sir - Everybody knows Kent - apples, cherries, hops and women" Mr Jingle, Pickwick Papers. Anyone who's ever thumbed through the likes of Oliver Twist, David Copperfield or The Pickwick Papers will know that the landscape and people of 19th Century Kent provided rich pickings for Dickens. In particular, the clutch of towns around the River Medway including Chatham and Rochester are referenced frequently in Dickens' works. It was growing up here that the author was at his happiest, stockpiling memories he would recycle in later years. Presented by Helen Mark and Produced by Anna Varle.

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22/03/2012

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