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Charles Dickens's 200th birthday: His stories in 140 characters

Charles Dickens biographer Claire Tomalin has this week claimed that kids these days can no longer read his "amazingly relevant" works because their attention spans are ruined by "dreadful" TV. So to celebrate Charles Dickens 200th birthday British tabloid The Mirror have boiled down his books to 140-character easily understandable tweets.If you haven't read any Dickens don't read the below, spoiler alerts!

Barnaby RudgeMystery murder: Essex nutter with a pet raven conned into rioting in London, dodgy MPs, couple of hangings, murder solved. Lovers wed. #Aah!The Pickwick Papers Nice rich old man Sam Pickwick & chums travel round the UK countryside and write about findings. Cue funny scrapes inc Mr P getting jailed.A Tale of Two Cities French Revolution, boozy lawyer defends Brit toff spy, falls for his lover & helps her save him from guillotine. #Bestof timesworstoftimesNicholas Nickleby Nick's dad loses money & dies. Nick, ma & sis have to live with horrid rich uncle. Posh ppl cruel, but Nick comes out on top #HappyeverafterA Christmas Carol Miserly Scrooge mean to all inc Bob C who's got sick son Tim. Spooked by 3 ghosts on Xmas Eve. Wakes changed man, buys big bird. #happyxmas!The Old Curiosity Shop Nell lives in shop wiv grampy who gambles to save for her future. Loses shop to mean moneylender. They flee, get hunted down - and die. Sob.The Adventures of Oliver Twist Orphan flees workhouse, snared by villain Fagin, gets caught pickpocketing, old gent takes pity, gets kidnapped then rescued. #Happyending!Our Mutual Friend Bloke due to wed to ensure fortune "drowns". Cash goes to working class Boffins. Blackmail, villainy then dead hero returns to #wed and winThe Mystery of Edwin Drood Orphan falls foul of opium-soaked choirmaster who obsesses over his betrothed. Dickens dies before he finishes the story. #hence the mysteryDavid Copperfield Mean stepdad sends Dave to work in London, he flees to live with Aunt, becomes a lawyer, falls for boss's girl and defeats enemy Uriah Heep.
Bleak House Saintly Ester pressured to marry man she doesn't love. Murder, inheritance battle and case of spontaneous human combustion. #tons of twistsHard Times Dour milltown teacher tries to reform circus lass while own kids go off rails & get into robbery. Local worker tries to dump his drunk wife.Little Dorrit Amy Dorrit & dad Bill live in debtor's jail. He's freed, she falls for pauper Arthur. Strange secret and villain with two names in the mix.Great Expectations Pip's a gent cos of cash windfall. Gets greedy, disowns family, discovers benefactor is escaped con. Mad Miss Haversham fries, #he gets girl

Dickens in numbers
1812 .. born Charles John Huffam Dickens on Feb 7, PortsmouthTen ..children with Catherine Thomson Hogarth, who he married aged 2412 ..age he started work labelling polish for 6s989 characters in all his stories put together325 ..adaptations for film & TV (so far!)Six ..number of weeks it took to write A Christmas Carol to get it ready for festive season58..the age he died, following a strokeCharles Dickens biographer Claire Tomalin has this week claimed that kids these days... more