| Christmas is the last
idyll left to us in a hectic world and we all have a Santa
Claus somewhere in our childhood. During the twelve days
of Christmas we can return to times past and remember
when the world was young and so were we. No one understood
this more than Charles Dickens, the great Victorian novelist,
and nowhere is this Christmas magic better exemplified
than in his own A Christmas Carol. This reading
is generally performed as part of a banquet entertainment
in hotels and restaurants when John Cairney reads it between
courses.
The after-taste is provided by a touching account by
Dylan Thomas of A Child's Christmas in Wales
and the night concludes with carol singing by the audience.
In the theatre, the two pieces are read straightforwardly
with an interval and the evening concludes with the
hilarious rendering of The Twelve Days of Christmas,
after which everyone then retires for mulled wine and
chestnuts.
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