Winter nostalgia


 I've been thinking a little about Yule traditions. Like many people I not only follow the widespread practices but also have my own particular habits that I repeat every midwinter season. Mine are mostly centred around stories which I like to enjoy. For me it is a time to listen to the audio recording made by theatrical legend Simon Callow of the Charles Dickens' story 'Doctor Marigold's Prescription'. This was one of Dickens regular performances during his touring days, a first-person narrative of a traveling cheapjack's life from his birth through to a Christmas-time reunion with his beloved adoptive daughter. Like all of Dickens' work it is full of sentiment and an observation of the brutal excesses of mid-Victorian life, and perfectly pitched with the balance of humour and pathos. Callow's performance is excellent and filled with a real enthusiasm that might be expected from an acknowledged expert on the author.

This is also the season when I love to rewatch Jeremy Brett, the world's greatest Sherlock Holmes, solving the mystery of The Blue Carbuncle. Conan Doyle's short story is set at Christmas with the theft of a priceless blue gem and its discovery in the crop of a goose destined to be cooked for a festive meal. Holmes naturally catches the real miscreant and exerts some clemency. Whilst there is a distant hint of the kind of redemption experienced by Scrooge, the story is mainly just a puzzle rather than a morality tale. The real pleasure is not so much the story as the two lead actors inhabiting their roles to perfection. As with Callow, a truly talented actor is a joy to watch.

I also normally include a slice of childhood nostalgia along with the tea and cake, through the medium of Worzel Gummidge's Christmas special (I refer, of course, to Jon Pertwee rather than the modern rendition). The songs are not exactly works of operatic art, but there is a lovely scene near the end where the scarecrows all gather for a midwinter feast that begins with a ceremony, led by the Crowman (played by the constantly entertaining Geoffrey Bayldon), that is positively pagan and charged with the passion for rural folk horror that was burgeoning in the 1970s.

I also love a good ghost tale at Yule, but not one in particular - I have enjoyed the ones that Mark Gatiss created in recent years, mostly based on the works of M R James or derivative of them. If I can find the brain space, I might record a tale of that sort via YouTube.

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