interview with Dalya Alberge dated Thursday 2 February 2012. This can be read using the 24/7 newspaper resource NewsBank (log in with your library card number).

Charles Dickens is not the only major Victorian novelist with Marylebone roots. His great friend the novelist Wilkie Collins was born and lived much of his life in the Marylebone area. There is a recently erected Westminster green plaque to mark the site of his birth on the block of flats at 96-100 New Cavendish Street.

Finally, an exciting Dickens discovery was announced in July 2015 by The Independent. Dickens was editor of a journal “All the Year Round”. A researcher, after purchasing bound volumes of this journal, found that these were Dickens’ own copies and they had a number of handwritten annotations identifyingweekend (13-14 June) so I took a look at some of the newspaper cuttings for those in our area: Bryanston Square, Montagu Square, Belgrave Square and Eaton Square. Below are some of the articles I found – just a few of the fascinating historic articles on the garden squares of the City of Westminster.

Bryanston Square

This drinking fountain pictured above was erected at the south end of Bryanston Square in 1863, paying tribute to William Pitt Byrne (1806-1861). Byrne was the editor of the Morning Post. The fountain still exists and is now a Grade II listed monument. Unfortunately, during the years following its construction it was allowed to run dry. The Evening Standard noted this in 1974:

Montagu Square

Quirky tales can often be found in our cuttings. Here is