The affections of world-famous Victorian novelist Charles Dickens towards the British city of Birmingham are to be explored in a new illustrated talk led by eminent social historian Professor Carl Chinn MBE.

Dickens, Birmingham and Christmas takes place on Wednesday 10 December at independent venue Nortons Digbeth in Birmingham’s Irish Quarter.

At the evening event, Professor Chinn will examine the author and social critic’s visits - and subsequent warmth and connection - to the beating heart of industrial Britain between the 1830s and 1870s.

In a special festive edition of his best-selling Birmingham history talks, the Birmingham history expert will explore both the life and times of Portsmouth-born Dickens, and the inspiration behind his famous work, A Christmas Carol.

The book described many of the defining characteristics of a traditional Victorian English Christmas.

Diving into the social and moral lessons that paved the way for the 1843 novella to become regarded as one of the most enduring stories ever written, the Birmingham expert will also explore the world of compassion and redemption which became a hallmark of Dickens’ writing.

Beyond Dickens’ well-documented readings of A Christmas Carol, on stage at the city’s then relatively new Town Hall - now a Grade I listed concert hall in the centre of Birmingham - on 27, 28 and 30 December 1853, Dickens was a regular visitor to the rapidly-growing Midlands municipality.

Dickens first visited Birmingham - with its then population of 150,000 - as a political reporter in the 1830s.

Soon after, Birmingham featured in the book that made Dickens a literary phenomenon - The Pickwick Papers - depicted as a bustling industrial town with "cinder paths and blazing furnaces”.

Some years later, a valuable diamond ring made in the city’s world-famous Jewellery Quarter was presented to Dickens as a mark of admiration and gratitude by a group of working men from Birmingham - the author went to wear the ring on his left hand until he died.

That gift led to the author offering to perform three nights of readings from his seasonal tales at Birmingham Town Hall between Christmas and New Year 1853, the money raised to go towards an educational facility for working men and women.

Those three nights launched Dickens’ career as a public speaker and raised funds for the building of the Birmingham and Midland Institute - established for the dissemination of education to all classes of people, but predominantly aimed at the betterment of the working man.

Just before his death in 1870, Charles Dickens visited Birmingham for the last time, telling his audience that he bore an old love towards Birmingham and Birmingham men and women.

Tickets for An Evening with Carl Chinn: Dickens, Birmingham and Christmas at Nortons on Wednesday 10 December at Nortons Digbeth are on sale, priced £10.00 plus booking fee, here