Middle years

• In 1836 Charles Dickens married Catherine Hogarth. She was the daughter of one of his editors, George Hogarth.
• Later in 1836, a story by Dickens, The Pickwick Papers was published as a serial. This proved to be very popular and Dickens started to become famous.
• Charles Dickens went on to produce a massive amount of material during his lifetime. He published fifteen novels, wrote hundreds of short stories and non-fiction pieces, lectured and performed both in England and in the United States, wrote plays, wrote thousands of letters and edited two journals.
• After having ten children together, Charles Dickens and Catherine Hogarth separated in 1858. Dickens then had a relationship with Ellen Ternan, an actress.
• Dickens was interested in the paranormal. He was a member of The Ghost Club.
• In 1865 Charles Dickens was involved in the Staplehurst Rail Crash. His was the only first class carriage to avoid running off the tracks. Apparently, Dickens helped many of the wounded passengers before rescuers arrived.