WHEN it comes to variety, you have to hand it to the Charles Dickens (Malton) Society.

At their recent Malton event, Badger Billinge presented A Dickens Time-Line, a picture of events taking place in England and around the world during the lifetime of our bestloved novelist.

We heard of momentous events – the births of Ibsen and of Alexander Graham Bell (who demonstrated his telephone to Queen Victoria), the American Civil War, happening as Great Expectations was published, the last public hanging in England, the introduction of compulsory education, the invention of the torpedo and the launch of Fry’s chocolates.

While in those days there was no internet offering the instant news communication we are used to, there were newspapers, and some of these events would have been known to Dickens.

Few of us knew that Adolf Sax (who developed the ‘ophone named after him) or Charles MacIntosh (think raincoats) were born while Dickens was alive.

Separately, Badger gave us another insight into the history of postage stamps (the Penny Black appeared in Dickens’ time, with a centenary issue in 1940).

We saw samples of “mourning stamps” – black-edged tributes, and of the triangular stamps from the Cape of Good Hope (1841) which inspired philatelist Stanley Gibbons.

The meeting also heard of exciting plans for the Counting House museum in Chancery Lane – purchase of Victorian furniture to enhance the rooms, extended opening hours, launch of the website and re-publishing of Ian Wray’s book Charles Dickens – the Malton Connection.

The next society meeting, scheduled for a presentation on Prostitution in Victorian York, is at on Tuesday, March 12, at 2pm, at The Yard cafe/bar in Malton Market Place.