The Life of Charles Dickens 'I beg your pardon sir, : he answered, but if it hadn't been for my pipe, I should have been nowhere.' Dickens often held cricket matches at his Gadshill home in Higham, Kent but once held footraces for the villagers at Christmas in which one event was A Hurdle Race For Strangers. One man (who came second) ran 120 yards and leaped over ten hurdles in 20 seconds with a pipe in his mouth smoking it all the time. Dickens comment to him was 'If it hadn't been for your pipe, you would have been first.' Illustration by Fred Barnard