TIDDLYWINKYDINKS: "OUR MUTUAL FRIEND"

The late Bob Steele of WTIC in Hartford, who probably holds the world's record for longevity on the radio at a single station, used to offer up "Tiddlywinks" at the end of his program.

"Tiddlywinks from the Teletype, little stories of little importance..."

For the Toobworld Dynamic, Tiddlywinkydinks are trivial facts from the real world and how they are adapted for television......

From Wikipedia:
"Our Mutual Friend" (written in the years 1864–65) is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining psychological insight with social analysis. It centres on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, "money, money, money, and what money can make of life" but is also about human values. In the opening chapters a body is found in the Thames and identified as John Harmon, a young man recently returned to London to receive his inheritance. Were he alive, his father's will would require him to marry Bella Wilfer, a beautiful, mercenary girl whom he had never met. Instead, the money passes to the working-class Boffins, and the effects spread into various corners of London society.

The book was not finished until 1865 and yet Mrs. Elizabeth Haverford, in an episode of 'Copper', is reading it in 1864.

Again from Wikipedia:
Our Mutual Friend, like most Dickens novels, was published in 19 monthly installments, each costing one shilling (with the exception of the nineteenth, which was double-length and cost two). Each issue featured 32 pages of text and two illustrations by Marcus Stone.

These are the installments published in 1864:

BOOK THE FIRST: THE CUP AND THE LIP
I – May 1864 (chapters 1–4);
II – June 1864 (chapters 5–7);
III – July 1864 (chapters 8–10);
IV – August 1864 (chapters 11–13);
V – September 1864 (chapters 14–17).

BOOK THE SECOND: BIRDS OF A FEATHER
 VI – October 1864 (chapters 1–3);
VII – November 1864 (chapters 4–6);
VIII – December 1864 (chapters 7–10).

So the Widow Haverford was reading the novel by installment.  And because there was probably a delay in shipping from England, more than likely she was no farther along than to the third installment of Book the First at best.

As far as Toobworld is concerned, the novel was Dickens' chronicle of the real-life events.  It was adapted for television three times, with the 1958 version being the official televersion (starring David McCallum, Wilfred Brambell, and Rachel Roberts.)

BCnU!