Dickens' special bond with city

BINGE-WATCHED film after film on TV over the festive period.

- Ken Rogers

A 1858 'Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens described as the most perfect expression of the season A 1836 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens both achieved success

For me, one classic version always stands head and shoulders above the rest: 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens, with its transformative tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, especially played by Alastair Sim.

Now before any of you say 'Bah! Humbug!, let me remind you that Dickens was actually an adopted Scouser, his love for our city being well documented. He was renowned for his impeccable research, and he certainly walked the working class Victorian streets of Liverpool to witness firsthand examples of abject inner city poverty and the huge gap between the 'haves' and the 'have nots.

Dickens first came here with his friend, the illustrator Hablot K. Browne, in 1838. 'A Christmas Carol' was published in 1843.

Liverpool was a city that Charles Dickens both admired and loved