The Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum in Lichfield is exceptional, by any definition.
Londoners will be familiar with Dr Johnson's House, the small museum tucked away in the courtyards north of Fleet Street. It's fun to explore, and contains a few surprises, such as a chunk of the Great Wall of China.
Fans of the wordsmith and dictionary compiler will, however, find a much more rewarding experience at the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum, the building in which he was born, and lived for the first few decades of his life. It's not in London, but in the small Staffordshire city of Lichfield. You should visit. Both city and museum are lovely.
Samuel Johnson first entered this world on 18 September 1709 in an upstairs room of a house in Market Square, Lichfield. We can pinpoint the spot to a few metres, because the museum labels this space as the birth room:
Johnson would go on to spend much of his first 27 years in this family home (before riding down to London with the actor David Garrick, where both would find enormous fame). This is the building in which he learned to walk and talk, and possibly pen his first words. The infant Johnson probably stuck his head up that fireplace, and smeared snotty fingers on those window panes. He would go on to better things.
The house, built in 1707, is a joy to explore. Five floors of Johnsonian memory, some decorated in fancy Georgian style, others crooked, exposed timber frame. The upper floors look down on the market place, where a statue of Johnson now stands. Young Samuel must have gazed out on this square a million times, never guessing his stone likeness would one day be part of the scene.
The museum is itself historic, having opened on the site in 1901. Many of the rooms are restored to Georgian look and feel, and occasionally enlivened with Johnson's own furnishings, including a roomy armchair and one of his writing desks.
Johnson achieved A-list celebrity status in his lifetime, which means many of his personal possessions have been saved. Those on show at the museum include his walking stick, writing desk, teapot, prayer books, cup and saucer, knife and fork… even his shoe buckles.
The house also has a fingerable copy of the dictionary, so you can look up rude words and discover if he really did leave out 'sausage', as per the Blackadder episode.
Speaking of which, that's the one aspect that both the London and Lichfield Johnson houses miss out. Neither one mentions Robbie Coltrane's portrayal of Dr Johnson in the 1980s comedy.
That memorable episode probably did more to re-popularise Dr Johnson and his work than anything from school history or literature classes. The museum should put on a mini-exhibition forthwith — we'll do anything we can to "facilitate their velocitous intramuralisation".
Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum is free to visit, and can be found in the market place at Lichfield. The fastest trains from Euston take 1 hour 12 mins.
