Charles Dickens was born on 7th February 1812 in Portsmouth and grew up in London and Kent. His father was sent to a debtor's prison following financial difficulties and the young Dickens was sent temporarily to work in a boot blacking factory, until an inheritance allowed his return to school - however, he never forgot this formative experience. Dickens wrote ... Read moremany novels including A Tale of Two Cities, The Pickwick Papers, A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations. A leading celebrity of the Victorian Age, his short story The Signalman was likely based on a crash involving a train that Dickens was travelling on, with his mistress. Charles Dickens died in 1870. Simon Bradley is editor of the world famous Buildings of England series, founded by Nikolaus Pevsner, to which he has contributed a number of notable revised volumes. He started trainspotting at the age of eleven and his enthusiasm for railways has proved remarkably enduring. He is the author of St Pancras Station (Profile), and lives in London. Show Less