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Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on 7th of February 1812 to John and Elizabeth Dickens. Charles was the second child of eight �in all, six of whom survived to adulthood. John, a naval clerk, always �beyond his means. One day he pointed out a house to Charles, remarking that he could �in such a house, if he worked hard. The family moved to London in 1822. At 12, as the family� worsened, Charles had to start working in a blacking factory, labelling bottles for eleven hours a day. John Dickens was eventually sent to a debtors' . Charles visited him there every Sunday. His youth left him with an� drive. In 1827 he began work as a solicitor's clerk. From the surroundings of his unremarkable office he began to collect names and characteristics of the people he saw.
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Charles began a� career in 1831. Writing became his passion, working for the paper by day and on his own work by night. He was beginning to taste success. His first piece of was published in 1835. That same year Charles met Catherine Hogarth, they fell in love and were married. The next few years of �activity resulted in much writing and many children. As his writing became more popular and his fame more widespread, �began to abound of his drunkenness and admission to an asylum. Stories were easy to concoct about the writer who kept a pet raven and whose writing dwelt in the extremes of the sentimental and the grotesque.
In 1842 Charles and Catherine set� for America. On landing in Boston they were mobbed by . Dickens's interest lay in visiting the unusual, which inspired his writing. He took his whole family on his next big , to Italy, in the summer of 1844. Upon his return, Dickens began to look for new diversions. He helped to start and edit a radical , founded a refuge for homeless women and� his works at public readings.
Aged 44, Charles bought Gads Hill, the house his father had pointed out to him all those years before. It symbolised the pinnacle of . Whilst Dickens was organising a theatrical project, The Frozen Deep, he met and was spellbound by a young actress Ellen Ternan. There is much speculation about this� that caused the end of his marriage to Catherine. One fateful night in 1865, whilst Charles and Ellen were returning from Paris their train� outside Staplehurst. Dickens administered brandy and water to the� and dying. Only at the last minute did he remember to retrieve the final part of Our Mutual Friend from the wrecked . The incident left Charles very shaken. For a while he maintained his� itinerary, then his health began to fail. At home on Wednesday 9th June 1870, at the age of 58 Charles suffered a� and died. He's buried in Westminster Abbey.
2. Fill in the blanks with the synonyms below.
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�charmed / a journey / to show / brothers and sisters / to get back / to act / brain attack / a shelter /
an office worker / busy / the passengers who were hurt / to get worse / shocked / success / money /
to give / the top / destroyed / a crow
Charles Dickens had �brothers and sisters in all.
His father was a naval
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John Dickens spent� and he was sent to a debtors' prison when Charles was �As a result Charles had to abandon school and work in a
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In 1827 Dickens
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In 1831 Dickens became a
�
Dickens's career as a writer of fiction began in 1835.�
That year he also he met his future �Catherine.
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Dicken had� �pet, a
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Dickens and his wife Catherine first went to America in
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He was given a �welcome in
After his trip to Italy Dickens �and started� �his works in front of audiences.
Gads Hill was a
Buying Gads Hill proved that Dickens was extremely successful.
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After he turned 44 Dickens met Ellen Ternan, a young �and he
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Dickens's started a relationship with Ellen Ternan which �his marriage to Catherine.
In 1865 on his way �Paris Dickens's train crashed at Staplehurst.
He �to the other passengers some of whom were injured or dying.
He �the manuscript of Our Mutual Friend in the destroyed carriage.
Dickens died of a��attack on 9th June 1870.
His grave is in
