WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE

What's the weather like near you? I only ask, because we've been having rather a lot of rain and a couple of folk were raising questions about the story of the Flood and Noah's Ark.

Tales about extensive - even civilization threatening - floods proliferate throughout world mythology and many of these stories have elements (if you pardon the pun) in common with the saga of Noah's voyage.

Such myths exist in many ancient cultures including Greek, Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian and Chaldean. Just about every corner of Europe boasts similar stories: from Scandinavia to Transylvania and there are accounts of floods involving boats, rafts and arks in the mythologies of countries as diverse as India, China, Africa, Alaska and Australasia.

You can read more about some of these stories on Mark Isaak's absorbing Flood Stories from Around the World page of The TalkOrigins Archive (Exploring the Creation/Evolution Controversy). Or for a shorter version of things (with pictures but fewer fascinating details) check out Wikipedia's entry on Deluge (Mythology) .

Meanwhile, here's a celebrated monologue written in 1932 by Marriott Edgar and famously performed by Stanley Holloway - with apologies to those for whom the Lancashire dialect and reference to pre-decimal coinage are problematical!

Three Ha'pence a Foot

I'll tell you an old-fashioned story
That Grandfather used to relate,
Of a joiner and building contractor;
'Is name, it were Sam Oglethwaite.

In a shop on the banks of the Irwell,
Old Sam used to follow 'is trade,
In a place you'll have 'eard of, called Bury;
You know, where black puddings is made.

One day, Sam were filling a knot 'ole
Wi' putty, when in thro' the door
Came an old feller fair wreathed i' whiskers;
T'ould chap said 'Good morning, I'm Noah.'

Sam asked Noah what was 'is business,
And t'old chap went on to remark,
That not liking the look of the weather,
'E were thinking of building an Ark.

'E'd gotten the wood for the bulwarks,
And all t'other shipbuilding junk,
And wanted some nice Bird's Eye Maple
To panel the side of 'is bunk.

Now Maple were Sam's Mon-o-po-ly;
That means it were all 'is to cut,
And nobody else 'adn't got none;
So 'e asked Noah three ha'pence a foot.

'A ha'pence too much,' replied Noah,
'Penny a foot's more the mark;
A penny a foot, and when rain comes,
I'll give you a ride in me Ark.'




But neither would budge in the bargain;
The whole daft thing were kind of a jam,
So Sam put 'is tongue out at Noah,
And Noah made 'long Bacon' at Sam.

In wrath and ill-feeling they parted,
Not knowing when they'd meet again,
And Sam had forgot all about it,
'Til one day it started to rain.

It rained and it rained for a fortni't,
And flooded the 'ole countryside.
It rained and it kep' on raining,
'Til the Irwell were fifty miles wide.

The 'ouses were soon under water,
And folks to the roof 'ad to climb.
They said 'twas the rottonest summer
That Bury 'ad 'ad for some time.

The rain showed no sign of abating,
And water rose hour by hour,
'Til the only dry land were at Blackpool,
And that were on top of the Tower.

So Sam started swimming to Blackpool;
It took 'im best part of a week.
'Is clothes were wet through when 'e got there,
And 'is boots were beginning to leak.

'E stood to 'is watch-chain in water,
On Tower top, just before dark,
When who should come sailing towards 'im
But old Noah, steering 'is Ark.

They stared at each other in silence,
'Til Ark were alongside, all but,
Then Noah said: 'What price yer Maple?'
Sam answered: 'Three ha'pence a foot.'

Noah said 'Nay; I'll make thee an offer,
The same as I did t'other day.
A penny a foot and a free ride.
Now, come on, lad, what does tha' say?'

'Three ha'pence a foot,' came the answer.
So Noah 'is sail 'ad to hoist,
And sailed off again in a dudgeon,
While Sam stood determined, but moist.

Noah cruised around, flying 'is pigeons,
'Til fortieth day of the wet,
And on 'is way back, passing Blackpool,
'E saw old Sam standing there yet.










'Is chin just stuck out of the water;
A comical figure 'e cut.
Noah said: 'Now what's the price of yer Maple?'
Sam answered: 'Three ha'pence a foot.'

Said Noah: 'Ye'd hest take my offer;
It's last time I'll he hereabout;
And if water comes half an inch higher,
I'll happen get Maple for nought.'

'Three ha'pence a foot it'll cost yer,
And as fer me,' Sam said, 'don't fret.
The sky's took a turn since this morning;
I think it'll brighten up yet.'

Images: 'The Deluge' by Gustav Dore; 'Three Ha'pence a Foot' by John Hassall

ARKOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

As you may have gathered from earlier posts, I have something of an ark fetish and, as result, a large collection of items that might be classified as objet d'ark!

One of my favourite pieces is a Harmony Kingdom multi-compartment box entitled 'Noah's Lark'.



Created by Peter Calvesbert in 1995, 'Noah's Lark' is home to 103 creatures including Noah who is seen sunbathing on the roof, watched by a pair of hungry vultures! A beaver is chomping on the shingles (elsewhere gophers have gnawed a hole in the side) while the lone frog is blissfully unaware that its companion is now inside the snake!


Meanwhile, inside the boat, Mrs Noah, Ham, Shem, Japhet and their wives are whiling away the time with a game of Monopoly...


It is, I think amazing how the Noah's Ark romance endures and toy arks remain solidly in vogue - even among those who probably wouldn't rate the Judeo-Christian story of 'The Flood' as anything other than myth.

Anyway, if - like me - you are a confirmed (or even a suspected) arkoholic - or just really miss the one you had when you were a tot - then there's good, if costly, news for you...

Gunther Keil's Wild Apples workshop ("Situated in the heart of New York State's Finger Lakes region." Where else?) has been creating wooden toys for more than 30 years and specializes in wooden animals and Noah's Arks using local hardwoods including cherry, oak and walnut.

This one's a mere $108...


Although the stand with the ramp to walk the animals up and down - "Hurry up tortoises, there are grumpy rhinos further back!" - is an extra $37!

This is the 'Play Ark', though at $195, play will probably require fairly stringent supervision...

And there is also this deluxe model - the 'Heirloom Ark', no less! - which comes in (or sails off) at $238...


To be fair, that price does include 20 pairs of animals and if that's not enough wildlife for you, you can always buy an additional nine pairs of animals (that, presumably, would have otherwise been left behind!) for another $40!

Finally, one of my regular blog-commenters, EUDORA, sent me this Noah's Ark cartoon showing the perils of taking a woodpecker on board!


The artist is unknown to me, but if he or she (or anyone else) can tell me, I will happily give credit where credit is due...

THE MEAN-ING OF CHRISTMAS

Last night was press night for Flat Pack Productions' presentation of my dramatisation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol at the Greenwich Playhouse.


There was mulled wine, mince pies (and humbugs!) for all; and - hopefully not just because of these substantial bribes - the audience was ecstatic! As a contemporary report of one of Mr Dickens' readings put it: "At the close there was an outburst, not so much of applause as of downright HURRAHING!"

And, after that bit of gratuitous self-congratulation, I will attempt to justify my shameless promotion of the show -- "Seats in all parts!" -- with a piece of curious trivia...

Charles Dickens' Ebenezer Scrooge ruthlessly declared:

"Every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!"

As I mentioned the other day, the philosophy that the poor were an expendable part of the "surplus population", was a teaching which Scrooge had learned from Thomas Malthus, but there was another direct (if erroneous) inspiration for the character of Dickens' infamous miser who was known as being "a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone".

In 1841, Charles Dickens went to Edinburgh to deliver a lecture. Taking a stroll through the city, he happened to visit the Canongate Kirk graveyard. There he saw a memorial slab which read:

EBENEZER LENNOX SCROGGIE
meal man

The inscription referred to Mr Scroggie's trade as a corn merchant; however, in recording this discovery in his diary, Dickens mistakenly reported the man's epitaph as "mean man", a description which he found so shocking that, two years later, it prompted him to give a similar sounding name to the the central protagonist in his A Christmas Carol.

Dickens resolutely believed that his creation was rooted in truth to the extent of writing that that while Scots had a reputation for frugality, they were not mean and that it must have "shrivelled" Scroggie’s soul to carry "such a terrible thing to eternity".

The undeservedly maligned Scroggie was, it seems, not at all known for his meanness. Born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scroggie's mother was the niece of Adam Smith, the 18th century political economist and philosopher. A vintner as well as a corn merchant, he won the catering contract for the visit of George IV to Edinburgh in 1822 (the first British monarch to visit since Culloden), and also secured the first contract to supply whisky to the Royal Navy.

However, Scroggie didn't live an entirely blameless life, having once 'goosed' the Countess of Mansfield during a debate at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; and, worse still, in 1830, fathered a child out of wedlock with a servant girl whom he allegedly ravished on a gravestone. It's probably just as well that Dickens didn't know about all that!

Maybe old Scroggie wouldn't have minded too much about having his memory maligned seeing as it inspired the creation of a character who undergoes such a wonderful transformation...


Images: Brian Sibley & David Weeks, © 2007

DOWN BUT NOT OUT

Writing about comic strips recently in connection with Charles Schulz, has reminded me to introduce you to 'Downbeat', a new series of cartoons by my friend, ELLIOT COWAN.

Elliot writes:

"Some time last year I came up with the great idea for this single panel misery cartoon. It's inspired in part by my time spent working for giant communication corporations amongst other things. Nobody seemed to want it and it seemed a shame to let it rot in a folder, so I made a new blog where you can read all of them."

True, with their crushing put-downs and devastating side-swipes, they lack the cosy warmth of Charlie Brown and Snoopy's exploits; but, nevertheless, it's hard to imagine that they won't resonate with the more bitter life-experiences of a good many readers!

Enjoy! Well, if you see what I mean...

FULLY BOOKED

I'm probably the only person in the world who - up until a couple of days ago - had never heard of BookCrossing...


So well-known an activity is it that the compound word 'bookcrossing' has now been admitted into the hallowed halls of the Oxford English Dictionary.

There are, apparently, 614,115 people in over 130 countries who have not only heard of it and are busy doing it.

"Doing what?" you ask - supposing you are not one of those 614, 115.

Well, BookCrossers "share their passion for books with the world". This they do by registering books on the BookCrossing site, and then "setting the book free to travel the world and find new readers". So far over 4,200,000 registered books have been liberated... The BookCrossing web-site explains how its done...

Leave it on a park bench, at a coffee shop, at a hotel on vacation. Share it with a friend or tuck it onto a bookshelf at the gym -- anywhere it might find a new reader! What happens next is up to fate, and we never know where our books might travel next. Track the book's journey around the world as it is passed on from person to person.

Join hundreds of thousands of active BookCrossers daily in our many forums to discuss your favorite authors, characters and books in every genre throughout history right up through current releases.

Help make the whole world a library and share the joy of literacy. Reading becomes an adventure when you BookCross!

I only discovered about the secret plots of these covert bookworms when one of my books was actually BookCrossed...

BookCrosser (or should I say, agent?) 'dicentragirl' issued the following challenge...

The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe
When: December 2nd, 2007
How: C S Lewis’ birthday is this week (the 29th) Let’s celebrate by having a book release in his honor. Pick a book by C S Lewis or one that relates to lions, witches or wardrobes/clothes. Release in a clothing store or get creative (think closets etc).

BookCrosser 'grubsneerg' duly took up the challenge, choosing two books: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe - The Creatures of Narnia by Scout Driggs and C S Lewis Through the Shadowlands by Yours Truly.



Agent 'grubsneerg' reports:

I spent all week trying to think of a good place to leave them and I kept coming up blank. Then I read today's newspaper and saw an ad for Staples, the office supply wonderland, and it clicked--C S Lewis' name is Clive STAPLES Lewis, so I left the Sibley book by the staples in Staples at sunset. Then I headed across the street to do some grocery shopping at Giant Eagle. I thought of leaving the other book by the $1 a night DVD rental machine, but I ended up leaving it in the free literature rack in the lobby. Mission Accomplished (x2)!

So, there we are; I now wait with bated breath to find out what adventures Shadowlands gets up to.

Meanwhile, you can read the history of BookCrossing here and other articles on the subject here and here.

And, of course, you could even become a BookCrosser.

HUMBUGGERY!

Eddie McNamee (Right) who plays Ebenezer Scrooge in my new dramatisation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, opening tonight at Greenwich Playhouse, is the latest in a long line of actors (from Lionel Barrymore to Michael Barrymore) who have taken on the role of the famous Christmas Humbug.

But what few people know is that Dickens had a very specific model in mind for his famous skinflint.

Ebenezer Scrooge has the following exchange with the charity collectors who call at the premises of Scrooge & Marley on that fateful Christmas Eve:

"At this festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge," said the gentleman, taking up a pen, "it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir."

"Are there no prisons?" asked Scrooge.

"Plenty of prisons," said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

"And the Union workhouses?" demanded Scrooge. "Are they still in operation?"

"They are. Still," returned the gentleman, "I wish I could say they were not."

"The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?" said Scrooge.

"Both very busy, sir."

"Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course," said Scrooge. "I'm very glad to hear it... I don't make merry myself at Christmas and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned-they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there."

"Many can't go there; and many would rather die."

"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population..."

The inspiration for this chilling philosophy was drawn from the writings of the English political economist, Thomas Malthus (1766-1834), who wrote one of the longest-titled books in the history of publishing, to wit: An Essay on the Principle of Population or a View of its Past and Present Effects on Human Happiness with an enquiry into Our Prospects Respecting the Future Removal of the Evils Which it Occasions.

Phew!

Here's a sample of Malthus' gloomy speculation on the fate of humankind:

The power of population is so superior to the power of the earth to produce subsistence for man, that premature death must in some shape or other visit the human race.

The vices of mankind are active and able ministers of depopulation. They are the precursors in the great army of destruction, and often finish the dreadful work themselves. But should they fail in this war of extermination, sickly seasons, epidemics, pestilence, and plague advance in terrific array, and sweep off their thousands and tens of thousands.

There are now those who believe that Dickens misunderstood and misrepresented Malthus' thinking and that the actions of Scrooge or any man - mean or generous - can no more affect the fate of humanity than they can alter the rising and falling of the tide.

But Dickens wanted to remind his readers that Christmas, more than anything else, was a time to consider the welfare of those less fortunate.

As his nephew, Fred, observes:

"...I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round - apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that - as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys."

THE WORD OF GOD

According to The Good Ol' Good Book:

God created man in his own image. In God's image he created him; male and female he created them.

It was the German philosopher, Ludwig Feuerbach, who reversed this assertion and observed (in a phrase later borrowed by Marx) that:

Man first unconsciously and involuntarily creates God in his own image...

Indeed, whilst the Jewish religion always avoided depicting the deity (in line with the third of the Ten Commandments) the classic Christian imagery of God is of a benign, bearded figure like a Father Christmas with an extra aura of holiness...


Examples are legion from Michaelangelo's paintings for the Sistine Chapel (top) via William Blake's 'The Ancient of Days' (above), and a zillion stained-glass windows, to Mel Calman's My God cartoons, of which the following one is known to be a personal favourite of Bishop Desmond Tutu:


In films God has had various representatives from Rex Ingram as 'De Lawd' (bodily manifested as a black Southern preacher-man) in the 1936 film, Green Pastures ("Gangway for the Lord God, Jehovah!") through to Morgan Freeman as a contemporary black deity in Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty.

My personal top-movie-God is to be found in the seriously under-rated Oh, God! (1977), where he takes on the bespectacled, cigar-smoking persona of George Burns.

Jerry Landers, an assistant manager of a Los Angeles Food World supermarket (John Denver), receives a mysterious note that says, "God grants you an interview tomorrow at 11 am, in Room 2700, 1600 N Hope St."

Landers thinking that the note is a prank, throws it away. But it reappears. So he rips it up. But it reappears. So he finally goes to 1600 N Hope St.

In an all-white room Landers finds himself facing a small white speaker resting on a small white table. "Don't smoke," says a disembodied voice, claiming to be God, "Tobacco is one of my big mistakes."

Landers is staggered: God has just said that God is fallible! So, has God has made any other mistakes? According to God He has...

"Ostriches," comes God's reply, "Silly looking things. And avocados. I made the pit too big."

Oh, God! is full of wise witticisms that suggest that God is not just smarter but also more street-wise than, in our skeptical age, we might suppose...

Jerry Landers: If you're God, how can You permit all the suffering that goes on in the world?

God: I don't permit the suffering - you do.

***

God: The reason I put everyone here naked... I wasn't trying to be cute. It's just that with clothes there's right away pockets, and pockets, you gotta put something in 'em.

***

Jerry Landers: People are always praying to You. Do You listen?

God: I can't help hearing. I don't always listen.

Jerry Landers: So then You don't care.

God: Of course I care! But what can I do?

Jerry Landers: What can You do? You're God!

God: Only for the big picture. I don't get into details.

***

God: I know how hard it is in these times to have faith. But maybe if you could have the faith to start there, maybe the times would change. You could change them. Think about it. Try. And try not to hurt each other. There's been enough of that. It really gets in the way... However hopeless, helpless, mixed up and scary it all gets, it can work. If you find it hard to believe in me, maybe it would help you to know that I believe in you.

***

But, then again, Mel Calman may have been the one truly speaking for God...


Images: My God © Mel Calman, 1970

GETTING THE KANE

One of the many criticism leveled against David Michaelis'recent biography of Charles Schulz is the author's selectivity in choosing facts, quotes and images to serve the analytical thrust of his arguments.

So, for example, he makes repeated reference to Schulz' supposed obsession with Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, a film that the artist saw, we are told, "as many as forty times" and which he referenced in several of the famous Peanuts strips. Small wonder, argues Michaelis, since the movie had highly significant resonances within Schulz' own life.


According to Michaelis: "Like Welles's hero, Charles Foster Kane, who 'got everything he wanted, and then lost it', Charles Monroe Schulz would succeed on a scale beyond the grandest of his childhood dreams, and yet he would struggle to love and be loved..."

Without subscribing to this theory (and feeling obliged to point out that Schulz repeatedly referenced many other films in his strips that are never mentioned by Michaelis) it does provide an excuse - as a fellow Kane fan - to reproduced one of my all-time favourite Peanuts strips that neatly sums up the utter frustration of having one's anticipated delight in seeing a film for the first time ruined by a mean Plot-Spoiler!

Click to enlarge

And, on the subject of that famous sled, here's Absolut Vodka's take on the Kane-connection.

*********************************************************************

And...
A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY
to
DAVID

*********************************************************************

Images: 'Peanuts', © The Estate of Charles Schulz; Photo of David Weeks © Mandy Davis, 2007

THE TRUTH ABOUT SCHULZ

A few days ago, I blogged my response to Schulz and Peanuts, David Michaelis' biography of Charles 'Sparky' Schulz.

For what is touted as an "official" or "authorised" biography, the book has generated considerable critical comment from Schulz' fans who, not unnaturally, have been dismayed by what is a largely negative depiction of a man who was nothing less than an American original.

Indeed, my own observations were essentially those of an admirer of Schulz both as a writer of brilliantly observed and wittily told capsule dramas and as a consummate comic draughtsman. But I was also aware that there were others who did not agree with the biographical portrait in Schulz and Peanuts, including some of those who knew him best - his family and friends.

So, I was both surprised and touched to receive a comment posted on my blog from the artist's wife, JEAN SCHULZ. In addition to publishing her thoughts and observations there, I decided to reprint them on today's blog for the benefit of those readers who don't go back to check out comments made on previous posts...

Dear Mr Sibley,

First of all, I am Charles Schulz' widow. You have written perceptive comments of the biographer’s shortcomings, such as: reducing Sparky’s genius to autobiographical sketches, and positing that familiar episodes such as the kite and football were created to exorcise ugly demons. Michaelis’ simplistic approach blurs rather than reveals the creative process.

Michaelis stated in a forum in Seattle that he saw his book as a “corrective” to Schulz’ public persona. However, never expressed that to me. What he left out of the book is how much Schulz loved to laugh, what good company he was because he never talked about the ordinary things that occupy people’s conversation. He became a student of anything that interested him. How multi-creative he was, having energy for all sorts of creative outreach from putting various books together, to his interest in critiquing the three amusement parks, to creating the ice shows, to short essay writing, to special drawings for dozens of things. He never settled for the ordinary approach.


Sparky was sensitive. He remembered his feelings from the past, but he didn’t dwell on them in his private life. He was just like the rest of us. Except that he saw more than many people. He was extremely softhearted and never wanted to hurt even a bug, which is pretty unusual, I’d think, for his background and age.

He was extremely honest. That threw people off, because they didn’t expect the answers he gave them. An interviewer asked me for one last thought about him, I said: “He worked very hard”. The interviewer was stunned. That seemed like such an ordinary thing. But he did work hard. He gave everything he could to the comic strip everyday, and that is really the thing he wanted to be known for. He said, "If they write on my tombstone, He made people happy" he would be satisfied.

Oh, and I have to add that, in contrast to Michaelis’ reportage, I never heard Sparky ever say anything about his mother being distant or cold. He did say that she felt uncomfortable at parent meetings because of her lack of education. Sparky felt sorry that she should feel that way because he said she was as smart as anyone else.

Jean, thank you for this contribution. And, yes, your husband did make people happy --- and millions of us, at that.

Images: Peanuts characters © Charles Schulz

A GHOST STORY OF CHRISTMAS

Rehearsals for my new stage adaptation of Charles Dickens' immortal tale, A Christmas Carol continue apace in preparation for next Tuesday's opening night.

Some people -- many, even -- may ask: "What? Yet Another Christmas Carol?"

True, Dickens' seasonal classic is so well-known that it has become part of popular mythology, like a folk-tale that is perennially retold and endlessly reworked in the telling.

Even people who have never read the book, actually believe they have! Just say the word “Humbug!”, and people think of Ebenezer Scrooge; utter the phrase: “God bless us, every one!” and they immediately recall the words of Tiny Tim.

It's got apparitions, transformations and all manner of imaginative scenes from the frenzied delights of a Christmas ball to ghostly goings-on in a graveyard.


A Christmas Carol might almost have been written for the stage and it's certainly been on stage somewhere or other in the world during every one of the 164 years since the book’s publication.

It was in December 1843 that Dickens novella made its appearance and, within weeks, there were no fewer than eight dramatised versions of the story being simultaneously presented on the London stage!

There was one version billed as A Christmas Carol, or the Miser's Warning and another bearing the epic title, A Christmas Carol, or Scrooge the Miser's Dream, or, The Past, Present, and Future. Hardly any of them could be described as being entirely faithful to the original and not a single one paid so much as a penny to the author.


One of the first actors to portray Scrooge was a celebrated Victorian thespian called Mr O Smith, whose performance was described by Dickens as “drearily better than I expected”, adding that he found it “a great comfort to have this kind of meat underdone”,' something which can hardly be said of many of his successors!

A long and distinguished line of actors have portrayed the “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner” and 'Scrooging' has been a particularly popular pastime among the knights of the theatre with spirited performances, over the years, from Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud, Alec Guinness and Michael Hordern.

Theatrical veterans Bransby Williams and Seymour Hicks both played the part first in legitimate theatrical productions, then turned their performances into solo music hall acts and eventually became two of the earliest screen Scrooges, succeeded by the likes of Alistair Sim, Albert Finney, Michael Caine and George C Scott.

Indeed there always seems to be a new film-version in the offing - the most recent of which, slated for 2009, will feature Jim Carrey.

Every conceivable medium has been employed in telling Dickens’ story from a mime by Marcel Marceau to an opera sung by Sir Geraint Evans and there have been Ebenezer Scrooges for every possible taste: from the senior partner of Steptoe and Son, Wilfred Brambell, to the captain of the Starship Enterprise, Patrick Stewart; not to mention musical versions starring Anthony Newley and Tommy Steele.

In America, where A Christmas Carol is equally beloved, Dickens' stonyhearted skinflint was portrayed on wireless for many years by Lionel Barrymore and elsewhere by Orson Welles, Basil Rathbone, Frederick March, Ronald Colman and Kelsey Grammer.

Everyone, of course, loves the Muppets’ take on the story, with Kermit and Miss Piggy as Bob and Mrs Cratchit and the Great Gonzo’s unforgettable impersonation of Charles Dickens; but there have been many other animated Carols featuring an interesting role-call of cartoon Scrooges ‘played’ by Mr Magoo, Fred Flintstone, Yosemite Sam and Donald Duck's penny-pinching uncle, Scrooge McDuck!

In fact, there has always been a generous supply of odd-ball versions including a couple of female incarnations of Scrooge and Americanised retellings and updatings with the likes of Henry Winkler, Bill Murray and, in an all-black musical, Gregory Hines portraying Scrooge as the landlord of a Harlem slum.

Despite the existence so many dramatisations of Dickens’ “ghost story of Christmas”, few of them have managed to find a way of retaining the highly personal and strongly present authorial voice.

Of all the memorable characters and events in Dickens’ prodigious literary output, those in this little tale - written in response to the terrible poverty of his day - were created with white-hot zeal and human compassion.

This is one of the reasons why this book has always been so beloved by generations of readers: Dickens the man is heard not just in his wonderful descriptions evoking the rituals of Christmas, but also in the storyteller's intense emotional involvement with the business of saving Scrooge’s soul.


It was this aspect of the book that I most wanted to preserve in dramatising it anew.

As a result, Dickens (himself a talented amateur actor and a celebrated performer of his own works, right) physically becomes part of the telling of the story: not simply as a narrator, but as a character - a convivial host, puppet-master and conjuror - setting the scene, introducing a vast cast of characters (portrayed by a relatively small ensemble group) and leading his audience through the curious events of an unforgettable Christmas Eve...

Reviewing A Christmas Carol in 1843, William Makepeace Thackeray wrote: “It seems to me a national benefit, and to every man and woman who reads it a personal kindness.”

Over of a century-and-a-half later, there still seems no reason to quibble with that verdict.