A Christmas Anthology

 

£1 from each copy sold goes to

This is definitely the book for people who'll be thinking, 'What on earth am I going to get them for Christmas?'!

 

Short stories, poetry and a Christmas Miscellany...

 

Entertaining, funny, fascinating, moving, A Christmas Anthology collects together some of the best writing to celebrate the season.

 

 

Short stories

 

Whatever Became of Tiny Tim?

 

The hilarious sequel to A Christmas Carol by John Mortimer, the creator of Rumpole

 

The Signal-Man

 

Charles Dickens' superb ghost story

 

The Widow's Mite

 

A Christmas tale from 1863 by Anthony Trollope

 

 

Poetry

by Thomas Hardy, Christina Rossetti, William Wordsworth, Steve Turner and others, including poems written specially for this Anthology

 

 

A Christmas Miscellany

 

All you need to know about seasonal customs, fascinating facts, and some of the best writing remembering Christmases past.  See below for extracts!

 

Christmas around the world today, from Traidcraft

 

 

 

Traidcraft fights poverty through trade, helping people in developing countries to transform their lives.

 

Established in 1979 as a Christian response to poverty, Traidcraft is the UK's leading fair trade organisation.  It runs development programmes in some of the poorest countries in the world, and campaigns in the UK and internationally to bring about trade justice.

 

 

 

St Mark's Press in association with Traidcraft, June 2011

 

ISBN 978-1-907062-12-4

 

RRP £9.95

 

To order, please go to our 'How to order' page

From the Miscellany...

 

The depiction of Father Christmas as a fat, bearded, jolly old man was standardised by the German-born American artist Thomas Nast (1840 - 1902).  His cartoon of Father Christmas appeared in Harper's Weekly in January 1863.  However, circumferential challenge and follicular prodigality pre-date Nash in pictures of Father Christmas...

 

 

In order to deliver all his presents, it has been calculated that Father Christmas could not spend more than 0.00008 seconds in each house.  (Estimates vary.)

 

 

A survey by Debenhams in 2010 revealed that 80% of the UK's Christmas presents are bought by women.

 

 

The Royal Mail first exhorted people to post early for Christmas in 1881.

 

 

In 1213, King John ordered 3000 capons, 1000 eels, 400 pigs, 100 lbs of almonds and 24 casks of wine for his Christmas dinner.  (He presumably had other people to help him eat it.)

 

 

A GCSE Religious Studies 2010 examination paper was criticised for being insufficiently difficult.  A picture of the Nativity was reproduced, showing two adults standing by the manger.  Candidates were asked the taxing question:  name the two people in the picture.

  A maximum of two marks was awarded.  This was in order to distinguish between those who could identify both mystery characters, and those who could name only one. 

 

 

Christopher Biggins played a pantomime dame every year for 38 years, until 2007.

 

 

 

Nativity Plays:

 

 

Some teachers take the view that the part of Gabriel should be given to the girl who should have played Mary but whose parents are less trouble.

 

 

Misheard lyrics:  'deep pan, crisp and even'; 'the cattle are glowing, the baby awakes'; 'Away in a manger, two quid for a bed'.

 

 

 

 

And there's more where that came from... but you'll have to buy the book!