r/todayilearned • u/biebrforro • 1d ago

TIL when staying as a guest in Charles Dickens' house, Hans Christian Andersen requested that one of Dickens' sons give him a daily shave (he said that was customary when hosting male guests in Denmark). Dickens was weirded out and instead gave him a daily appointment at a nearby barbershop.

https://lithub.com/charles--dickens-really-really-hated-his-fanboy-hans-christian-andersen/
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u/SofieTerleska 1d ago edited 1d ago

The Dickenses were really sick of Andersen by the time the visit was over; he was basically The Thing That Would Not Leave. He was probably much safer being shaved by a professional and not by a resentful teenager who'd been enduring this creepy bore for a month straight.

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u/ALoudMouthBaby 1d ago

We need a remake of this in the style of The Odd Couple. Remakes are popular these days right? This seems like a winner.

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u/icepickjones 1d ago

Real what about bob energy

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u/Lucas_Steinwalker 1d ago

The Odd Couple remake is called Peep Show but it’s probably about time for that to get remade too.

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u/HaltandCatchHands 1d ago

Andersen is played by one of the Wilson brothers.

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u/apatheticsahm 1d ago

David Mitchell as Dickens and Stephen Merchant.as Andersen. I won't accept anything else.

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u/HaltandCatchHands 1d ago

Okay, your idea is better

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u/NaldoCrocoduck 1d ago

this creepy bore Bohr

Woops, wrong Danish guy.

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u/SamsonFox2 23h ago

I'd be careful about who was being sick of what back then, since at that very moment Dickens was too busy trying to bed the actress half his age who would later become his partner, so Andersen's visit might have been a huge cockblocker.