Books and Bees

Tomorrow 8 February at 6.00 at the British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, I and Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, author of Becoming Dickens (2011) will be discussing Dickens - in an event to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth - and asking what explains his popularity, what makes him so attractive to biographers and readers, why has his work been adapted for TV and film more than that of any other novelist? There will be a question-and-answer session afterwards and a reception.
No news on the bees. We had 3 or 4 inches of snow in the Cotswolds on Saturday night but it started melting in the afternoon, so it should not worry the bees much, but they are sensibly staying indoors.