The novelist who walked while London slept

When Charles Dickens could not sleep, he did not count sheep. He crossed London.

Dickens often took long night walks through the city, sometimes covering many miles.

He observed streets, workers and people living at the edges of Victorian society.

The city he saw after dark later fed the atmosphere and characters of his novels.

The detail is memorable because it changes the usual picture of Charles Dickens. Fame makes a life look inevitable; the real story is often built from curiosity, wrong turns and decisions nobody could recognise as important at the time.

A creative life often begins with close attention to one small moment.