The bust of Charles Dickens at the Pump Room, Bath, has been given a makeover by the Council in preparation for the author’s 200th birthday celebrations early next year.
As part of what looks set to be the first nationally celebrated cultural event of 2012, the Council is putting on a show at the Pump Room that will celebrate Dickens’s special association with Bath. The newly conserved bust of Charles Dickens will preside over the proceedings.
Stephen Bird, the Council’s Head of Heritage Services, said: “The special one man show, staged by Bath & North East Somerset Council on 7 February, will star Doc Watson in performance as Charles Dickens and will include readings from ‘The Pickwick Papers’, his first novel, which satirises life in Bath. We expect this event to be a sell-out – what with Dickens’s continued popular appeal and Doc Watson’s hugely-charismatic persona – so we advise people to buy their tickets from Bath Box Office now.“
The bust of Charles Dickens at the Pump Room was completed in 1900 by Percy Fitzgerald. Earlier in his life Fitzgerald had contributed to Dickens’s publication ‘Household Words’ and in 1914 he wrote his own ‘Memories of Charles Dickens’. The bust can be seen in a corridor to the left of the main entrance to the Roman Baths.
Councillor Cherry Beath (Lib-Dem, Combe Down), Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: “It is a delight to see objects like the bust of Charles Dickens – which are a small but essential part of the rich cultural life we enjoy in this district – being cared for by Bath & North East Somerset Council in this way.“
Tickets for the performance on 7 February 2012 are available from Bath Box Office on 01225 463362.
