Page 20 - PBCOctober2015

Pickwick Bicycle Club Magazine Volume 12 No.1 March 2015 !20
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Mr Slasher – a surgeon at St Bartholomew’s hospital:
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'What was that, sir?' inquired Mr. Pickwick. 'Only a man fallen out of a four pair of
stairs' window; but it's a very fair case indeed.' 'Do you mean that the patient is in a fair
way to recover?' inquired Mr. Pickwick.
'No,' replied Mr. Hopkins carelessly. 'No, I should rather say he wouldn't. There must be
a splendid operation, though, to-morrow--magnificent sight if Slasher does it.' 'You
consider Mr. Slasher a good operator?' said Mr. Pickwick.
'Best alive,' replied Hopkins. 'Took a boy's leg out of the socket last week--boy ate five
apples and a gingerbread cake-- exactly two minutes after it was all over, boy said he
wouldn't lie there to be made game of, and he'd tell his mother if they didn't begin.'
'Dear me!' said Mr. Pickwick, astonished.
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Frank W Shorland 1908 to 1914 (President 1926)
Richard G C Manders 1922 to 1923

Joseph Lisle 1925 to 1933
F Charlton 1937 to 1965 (Winkle Cup 1938; Committee 1944)

B A Welfare 1965 to 1984
Derek E Keen 1986 to 2000

Steven Bannington 2013 to present
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An observation by Philip Eden in the Telegraph in January 2015
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“ It has probably not occurred to anyone that the Christmas festivities at Dingley Dell
should have taken place against a backdrop of grey skies, scuds of drizzle, a soft
sou’wester and muddy Kentish lanes. For Dickens set Pickwick Papers in 1827 and records
show that in London & the Home Counties this was an exceptionally mild, but gloomy
Christmas.
Dickens did not cheat, but it has been observed that he ‘fiddled’ around with the
chronology of Pickwick Papers: his original setting for Christmas at Dingley Dell was in
1830, and yes 1830 coincided with a notable wintry spell.”
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