7 FEBRUARY MYSTERY OF MASTER HUMPHREY

Free public UCL Lunch Hour lecture investigates one of Dickens's most peculiar and enigmatic characters - Master Humphrey, the narrator of The Old Curiosity Shop (that is, until he is mysteriously dismissed from this role). Dr Matthew Beaumont, University College London, in this lecture will detail some of Humphrey's oddities and speculate about his puzzling past, before following him into the streets of London at night. Humphrey may be more disturbing than readers of the novel tend to assume, and the lecture will locate his unsettling descendants in novels by Stevenson, Joyce and Nabokov among others.

The lecture will take place on Tuesday 7 February at 1.15pm-1.55pm and free and open to all on a first-come first-served basis and require no pre-booking. It can also be watched live online at www.ucl.ac.uk/lhl/streamed or after the event at YouTube channel www.youtube.com/UCLLHL