There is a new candidate for the man who inspired Charles Dickens’ sadistic and abusive headmaster in Nicholas NicklebyIt is not a claim to fame anyone would relish: the honour of being named as the inspiration for one of Charles Dickens’ most unappealing fictional characters, Wackford Squeers, sadistic headmaster of Dotheboys Hall in Nicholas Nickleby.Even now, 180 years since the book came out, the identity of the real school teacher behind the cruel persecutor of Dicken’s young hero is disputed. Scholars remain unsure which of a clutch of venal proprietors of barbaric Victorian boarding schools was the true original. Continue reading…
Via: Will the real Wackford Squeers step forward?
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PIERS MORGAN: A phone call I received from a fired-up Trump should be a warning to Democrats
President Trump called me for a chat on Saturday. It was our first conversation since he unfollowed me on Twitter in April after I wrote a Mail column telling him to ‘Shut the f*ck up Read more…