1857 Directs and acts in Wilkie Collins's The Frozen Deep. Meets Ellen Ternan.

1858 Gives his first public readings for profit (29 April-22 July). Legal separation from Catherine (May). First provincial reading tour (2 August- 13 November).

1859 Founds and edits All the Year Round. A Tale of Two Cities serialized in the new weekly journal (30 April-26 November).

1860 Great Expectations serialized in All the Year Round (1 December- 3 August 1861 ).

1864 Our Mutual Friend serialized (May 1864-November 1865).

1865 Staplehurst train wreck (9 June). Dickens sustains minor injuries and long- lasting trauma.

1867 American reading tour (November 1867-April 1868).

1870 Twelve farewell readings in London (January). Received by Queen Victoria (9 March). Begins serializing The Mystery of Edwin Drood (April). Dies on June 9th at Gad's Hill of a cerebral hemorrhage.