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The only surviving London home of writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson will open its doors free on Friday to mark the 300th anniversary of his birth.
Dr Johnson's House, just off Fleet Street, will celebrate the tercentenary with a cake-cutting ceremony attended by writer Dame Beryl Bainbridge and Ian Luder, the Lord Mayor of the City of London. The first 300 visitors will receive a birthday balloon.
At the house in Gough Square, Johnson spent nine years working on his dictionary which became the definitive chronicle of the English language for more than a century. Last month was the house's most successful for visitors. There were 1,365 compared with 778 for the same month last year.
Morwenna Rae, the deputy curator, said: "We saw a big increase in visitors in August but we're still a hidden gem."
The building will also be free on Saturday as part of the annual Open House Weekend. Other birthday events include a guided walk on Friday and a discussion on Johnson by two of his biographers Professor Peter Martin and Professor David Nokes at the Barbican library on 23 September.
