Charles Dickens's Playlist

David Owen Norris imagines what music Charles Dickens would have put on a playlist, with the help of Simon Callow and biographers Claire Tomalin and Michael Slater.

Dickens wrote and performed songs all his life. As a little boy, his mother stood him on the table in the local pub to sing; as a successful writer he sang to his guests after dinner. He also wrote the libretto for an opera titled The Village Coquettes.

David and his guests make educated guesses about some contemporaneous favourite tunes, beginning with a song Dickens performed on the accordion, and ending with a carol from his famous festive novel.

Recorded on location in Dickens's London drawing room, with songs performed by Gwyneth Herbert, Thomas Guthrie, Laura Crowther and chorister Hugh Summers.

Producer: Elizabeth Burke

A Loftus Audio Production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.

David Owen Norris imagines what music Charles Dickens would have put on a playlist.