|
|
Editor's note
|
On Wednesday June 8 1870, Charles Dickens was working on his novel Edwin Drood in the garden of his country home in Kent. He came inside to have dinner with his sister-in-law, Georgina Hogarth, and suffered a stroke before dying the next day. The days that followed have long been the subject of Dickensian folklore and speculation. He had left detailed final wishes to be “buried in an inexpensive, unostentatious and strictly private manner”. So how did he end up in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey and not in a small graveyard near his country home? It was “the will of the people”, or so the official story goes.
But the truth has finally been revealed by Dickensian sleuth Leon Litvack who has delved into the archives and cathedral vaults, finding letters and documents which show another side of history. His forensic investigation reveals, for the first time, how Dickens’s biographer and friend John Forster conspired with the Dean of Westminster Abbey, Arthur Stanley, to clinch a “fitting” celebrity funeral. It may have been against the writer’s will
and his family’s wishes, but it made a good ending for Forster’s book, gave Poets’ Corner a much needed boost and is an early example of celebrity myth-making in action.
Speaking of myth-making, have you ever wondered how the most successful businesses achieve their amazing results? According to Chegwei Liu’s new research it has a lot more to do with luck than you might think.
We also have a story about how the humble mushroom could revolutionise the construction industry’s green credentials.
|
Paul Keaveny
Commissioning Editor
|
|
|
Top stories
|
Dickens After Death, John Everett Millais, June 10 1870.
Charles Dickens Museum
Leon Litvack, Queen's University Belfast
How two ambitious men put their own interests ahead of the great writer and his family in an act of institutionally-sanctioned bodysnatching.
|
Shutterstock/FotograFFF
Chengwei Liu, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick
Ignore business books which promise to reveal the secret formula of success – usually it's down to luck.
|
Hy-Fi, The Living, MoMA. Jessica Sheridan/Flickr
Ian Fletcher, Leeds Beckett University
Our climate is changing – and so must architecture.
|
Education
|
-
Ana Aznar, University of Winchester
It doesn't work, so why do so many parents do it?
|
|
Arts + Culture
|
-
Alec Charles, University of Winchester
Doctor Who has always been progressive – but now it appears it's a little too ' woke' for many of its fans.
-
Julian Lawrence, Teesside University
BoJack Horseman is part of a long history of animations that have always broached more grown-up topics.
|
|
Science + Technology
|
-
Paul Levy, University of Brighton
Windows 7 users are being urged to buy a new laptop but they could be just as well off not bothering.
-
Magnus Linden, Lund University; David Whetham, King's College London
The military should take more care when hiring new staff if we are to prevent atrocities in wars.
|
|
Environment + Energy
|
-
Ariel Edesess, Liverpool John Moores University
Taxes designed to encourage a green transition can instead penalise smaller businesses and ensure they're left behind.
-
Cyril Piou, Cirad
The best way of dealing with desert locust, as other locust species, is to adopt a preventive management strategy.
|
|
Politics + Society
|
-
Madeleine Gabriel, Nesta
The US research funder is widely admired, but does the UK have the guts to start its own version?
-
Dave Walsh, De Montfort University
Recent changes to the Japanese justice system have tried to make it more transparent and equitable.
|
|
|
Featured events
|
|
Room SLB/118, Spring Lane Building, Campus West, York, York, YO10 5DD, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of York
|
|
Room RCH/037, Ron Cooke Hub, Campus East, York, York, YO10 5GE, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of York
|
|
Blackbox Theatre, Theatre, Film and Television Building, Campus East, York, York, YO10 5GB, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of York
|
|
Yorkshire Room, JB Morrell Library, Campus West, York, York, YO10 5DD, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of York
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|