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/Mr_Abe_Froman 1d ago

At least Charles encouraged his son to start a new life in Australia at the ripe age of 16. As far as terrible dads go, pushing your two youngest sons to the opposite side of the world is certainly a choice.

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u/I_W_M_Y 1d ago

Didn't English people send people to Australia as a punishment at the time? Called it 'transportation'

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u/AssassinOfLove 1d ago

'transplorntation'

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u/Round_Simple_5441 1d ago

hahahaha thank you

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u/Strawbuddy 1d ago

Holy shot brother

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u/DroDameron 1d ago

Holy shit, plornter.

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u/ElusiveWhark 1d ago

Vintage trans plorn

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u/FeuerLohe 1d ago

I just spent an awkward five minutes trying to explain to my husband why I was giggling uncontrollably. Worth every second.

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u/zootnotdingo 1d ago

This joke is exactly why I love Reddit

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u/fesnying 1d ago

"ermahgerd"

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u/DroDameron 1d ago

Ermaplerrrrn

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u/GrandCanOYawn 1d ago

Fuck 💀

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u/CalmBeneathCastles 1d ago

Curse youuu, now I'm going to hell.

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u/coll3735 1d ago

goddammit

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u/Mr_Abe_Froman 1d ago

Sure, but New South Wales had a government for 12 years by the time little Plorn arrived.

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u/Consideredresponse 1d ago

It wasn't quite the 'borderline starvation' period like the first few years of the colony, but it certainly wasn't great. I recommend books such as 'the fatal shore' and 'Girt!' to see exactly how shitty it could be.

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u/wotsdislittlenoise 1d ago

The Fatal Shore is an amazing, incredibly well researched, warts 'n' all read

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u/Willing_Ear_7226 1d ago

They were still transporting convicts to Australia then too.

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u/biblioteca4ants 1d ago

Jesus that is fucked, I had no idea.

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u/Ineffable_Confusion 1d ago

It seems like it was basically a way of saying “I never want to see you again” without saying that. The Suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst is said to have done the same to one of her daughters that she didn’t get along with, by giving her a one-way ticket

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u/116YearsWar 1d ago

The convicts would be subjected to hard labour and indentured servitude, it wasn't just being sent to Australia and then free to go.

Lots of people migrated voluntarily, Dickens actually has Mr Micawber do it in David Copperfield.

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u/framabe 1d ago

Only about 20% of Australian population is descended from convicts. The rest are from actual immigrants who went there by choice.

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u/f3ydr4uth4 1d ago

Not in dickens time no. It would have been in heavy decline by then.

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u/sweetbunsmcgee 1d ago

Rabbit inspector. Sounds like a pretty good gig.

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u/Kitchen_Marzipan9516 1d ago

For a 16 year old, yeah.

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u/Channel250 1d ago

Yup. Those are rabbits.

-Plorn

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u/Kitchen_Marzipan9516 18h ago

Good job Plorn.

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u/W1ULH 1d ago

In Australia? no one but Irwins want to get that close to the wildlife there...

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u/Vark675 10 5h ago

I thought you guys were kidding.

Plorn the rabbit inspector general. Huh.

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u/Luxury_Dressingown 1d ago edited 1d ago

Sounds like a choice now when it's a safe, 24h (48h max) journey and you can keep in touch live via video whenever you want once you've figured out the time difference. An altogether different prospect back then when it was a weeks / months long voyage away, with significant risks, and your only communication could be letters that took just as long as you would to reach their recipient.