A miscellany of prose & poetry for the festive season, including:-

• "T'was the Night Before Christmas" by Clement Clarke Moore

• Tree throwing from "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

• "Advent 1955" by John Betjeman

• "The Journey of the Magi" by T S Eliot

• "The Milkman's Speech" from the Two Ronnies Christmas Special

• "Nursery School Nativity Play" by Joyce Grenfell

• "Christmas" by John Betjeman

• "The Boy Who Laughed At Santa Claus" by Ogden Nash

• "Talking Turkeys" by Benjamin Zephaniah

• "Sam's Christmas Pudding" by Marriott Edgar

• "Twelve Days of Christmas - A Correspondence" by John Julius Norwich

• "The Oxen" by Thomas Hardy

as well as a look at the origins of certain Christmas traditions, such as:-

• Christmas Trees

• Christmas Crackers

• Christmas Stockings

• Christmas Puddings

• Twelfth Night

A dramatised reading of Charles Dickens's 'The Chimes', the second of his Christmas novellas, written the year after 'A Christmas Carol'.

It tells the story of Toby Veck - a poor elderly messenger, or 'ticket-porter', who finds redemption from a life of gloom and despondency one New Year's eve.

As did Charles Dickens in his public readings, I use different voices and mannerisms to differentiate and to bring the various characters to life.

It runs for an hour, but can be shortened if required.

A dramatised reading of Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol", very much as Dickens himself presented it to his adoring audiences, both here and in the United States of America, using different voices and mannerisms to differentiate the various characters.

See Scrooge, Bob Crachit, Tiny Tim and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future literally jump of the page and come to life before your very eyes.

A Yuletide favourite story of one man's redemption.

I have now performed it over 100 times.

It runs for an hour, but can be shortened if required.