AWAY IN A MANGER

The author P L Travers has received a lot of attention this year (not all of it flattering) as the author of Mary Poppins became a character in a new Disney film, Saving Mr Banks.

Despite all the media coverage given to the film and the 'revelations' about the author's her childhood in Australia and her dealings with the Disney studio, the world at large is probably as far from understanding this complex woman as it was before all the hoop-la and shenanigans began...

The majority of people only know Mary Poppins via Walt Disney's 1964 film as opposed to the six books Travers wrote about the magical nanny. The chances are they are unaware of her other writing which includes a mystical fable for Christmas Eve.

It is called The Fox at the Manger and, in 1990, with the author's permission, I dramatised the book for BBC Radio with a cast headed by Dame Wendy Hiller and Alec McCowen and with a glorious music score from David Hewson.

If you can find yourself forty-five minutes to have a cuppa and a sit down, you might enjoy a very special story about this holiest of nights...