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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Jon Henley

Dickens audio tour: David Copperfield

Download the map for the tour here to take with you.

Location 1: York Water Gate, Victoria Embankment Gardens

Before the Embankment was built in the 1860s the steps of this 1620s building led straight into the Thames. The Adelphi was the first part of London that Dickens knew.

Location 2: Villiers Street
Hungerford Bridge was originally built to lead to Hungerford Market, now buried under Charing Cross station. Aged just 12, Dickens was put to work in Warren's Blacking Factory, close to the site of today's bridge.

Location 3: Buckingham Street
Dickens lived at 15 Buckingham Street, and placed David Copperfield into his first lodgings in this street, along with Mrs Crupp, his landlady.

Location 4: View of South Africa House
Towards Trafalgar Square on the left is the wedge-shaped South Africa House, site of the Golden Cross Inn in Dickens's time. David Copperfield stays here before moving into his own flat.

Location 5: Adelphi Theatre
The young Dickens loved the Adelphi, and many of his novels were dramatised here without his permission, often before the endings had been written...

Location 6: Rules Restaurant, Maiden Lane

Rules is London's oldest restaurant, and in his pomp Dickens had a table regularly reserved, complete with a view over the newly relocated blacking factory he used to work in.

Location 7: Lamb & Flag pub
David Copperfield celebrates his birthday with a glass of ale at what is probably this pub. Dickens used to drink here, and the poet John Dryden was nearly "done to death" in the alley to the side.

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