A Christmas Carol ...."God Bless Mr. Dickens" ... on the wireless today

Now I think you are either a Christmas or New Year person, and I am a Christmas person.

Marley's Ghost. Ebenezer Scrooge visited by a ghost

And I embrace the lot, from the trees, the cards, to all the big and trivial things.

So with that in mind, there is always a spot for the film It's a Wonderful Life, along with a sledge full of Dicken's remakes of A Christmas Carol. 

Of these the 1951 Alister Sim version renamed Scooge remains the family favourite.

And here I have to confess that I have never read the original, all of which means that the  Radio 4 In Our Time exploration of Dicken's book is a must to listen to..

"Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Charles Dickens' novella, written in 1843 when he was 31, which has become intertwined with his reputation and with Christmas itself. Ebenezer Scrooge is the miserly everyman figure whose joyless obsession with money severs him from society and his own emotions, and he is only saved after recalling his lonely past, seeing what he is missing now and being warned of his future, all under the guidance of the ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Yet To Come. 

Scooge and Bob Cratchit celebrate Christmas

Redeemed, Scrooge comes to care in particular about one of the many minor characters in the story who make a great impact, namely Tiny Tim, the disabled child of the poor and warm-hearted Cratchit family, with his cry, "God bless us, every one!"

With Juliet John, Professor of English Literature and Dean of Arts and Social Sciences at City, University of London, Jon Mee, Professor of Eighteenth-Century Studies at the University of York, and, Dinah Birch, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Cultural Engagement and Professor of English Literature at the University of Liverpool

Producer: Simon Tillotson"*

It was broadcast yesterday and is available to listen to by following the link.

Pictures; Marley's Ghost. Ebenezer Scrooge visited by a ghost. Colour illustration from 'A Christmas Carol in prose. Being a Ghost-story of Christmas', by Charles Dickens, With illustrations by John Leech, 1843, British Library, and Scrooge and Bob Cratchit celebrate Christmas in an illustration from stave five of the original edition, 1843.  

A Christmas Carol, Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0012fl5