Great Expectations

Charles Dickens, whose pen name was Boz, is regarded by many as one of the world's greatest authors. His father, a navy clerk, was - like the fathers in many of Dickens' novels - constantly in and out of debtor's prison, and Dickens was sent to work in a blacking factory at the age of twelve. His parents' failure to educate him was a source of great bitterness to him, and he reacted to this indifference by working incredibly hard for his entire life. Beginning as an office boy in a lawyer's office, in time he became a parliamentary reporter and then a journalist. He wrote The Pickwick Papers at the age of twenty-four, and captured the popular imagination in a way no other novelist had done previously. He continued writing and reading his works in public until his sudden death in 1870.

Eddie Izzard is a world-renowned comedian, actor, writer, runner, and activist. He made his West End debut in 1993 in a one-man show called Live at the Ambassadors, for which he received an Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement. He recently appeared on television as Dr Abel Gideon in Hannibal, and he produced and starred in the FX Networks series The Riches. His films include Valkyrie; Ocean's Thirteen and Ocean's Twelve; Across the Universe; Mystery Men; Shadow of the Vampire; The Cat's Meow; Lost Christmas; Castles in the Sky; and Whisky Galore! His stage appearances include David Mamet's Race and The Cryptogram; the title role in Marlowe's Edward II; 900 Oneonta; and A Day in the Death of Joe Egg in London and on Broadway, which garnered him a Tony nomination for Best Actor. Izzard's hit one-man shows include Dress to Kill, Stripped, and Force Majeure. His performance in Dress to Kill earned him two Emmy Awards. In 2010, the documentary Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story received an Emmy nomination. In 2009, Izzard ran forty-three marathons in fifty-one days throughout the United Kingdom, and in 2016, he ran twenty-seven marathons in twenty-seven days across South Africa in honour of Nelson Mandela's twenty-seven years in prison. By running these seventy marathons he has helped raise £4.8 million ($6 million) for the UK charity Sport Relief.