The Life of Charles Dickens 'In a transport of presence of mind and fury, he instantly caught him up in both hands , and threw him over his own head out into the entry, where the check-takers received him like a game at ball.' During a reading in America Dickens' was interrupted by a dog in the audience and it returned a few days later but the second time one of Dickens' group managed to remove it from the room before it created a repeat performance. Illustration by Fred Barnard