The Twelve Days of Christmas

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If I could work my will,' said Scrooge indignantly, '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.' In 1964, Norwich left the diplomatic service to become a writer. [13] His subsequent books included histories of Sicily under the Normans (1967, 1970), Venice (1977, 1981), the Byzantine Empire (1988, 1992, 1995), the Mediterranean (2006) and the Papacy (2011), amongst others (see list below). [16] He also served as editor of series such as Great Architecture of the World, The Italian World, The New Shell Guides to Great Britain, The Oxford Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Art and the Duff Cooper Diaries. [17] A theme through the tales is the contrast between the cold outdoors and the warmth of a roaring fire, in a nostalgic past. ‘Fine old Christmas’ from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot is an example – lyrical description of the white snowy countryside contrasting with warm and colour indoors. We have lost this contrast in our centrally heated homes, but as a child in the 1940s I well remember ice patterns on the inside of bedroom windows, and a coal fire warming one room only – except for Christmas, when we had an extra fire in the ‘front parlour’.

Norwich was born at the Alfred House Nursing Home on Portland Place in Marylebone, London, on 15 September 1929. [4] He was the son of the Conservative politician and diplomat Duff Cooper, later Viscount Norwich, and of Lady Diana Manners, a celebrated beauty and society figure. [5] He was given the name "Julius" in part because he was born by caesarean section. [6] Such was his mother's fame as an actress and beauty that the birth attracted a crowd outside the nursing home and hundreds of letters of congratulations. [4] Through his father, he was descended from King William IV and his mistress Dorothea Jordan. [7] The Normans in the South and The Kingdom in the Sun, on Norman Sicily, later republished as The Normans in Sicily, Penguin, 1992 (The Normans in the South, 1016–1130; originally published:- Harlow:Longman,1967—The Kingdom in the Sun, 1130–1194; originally published:- Harlow:Longman, 1970) ISBN 978-0-14-015212-8Web of Stories-Life Stories of Remarkable People (19 June 2018). John Julius Norwich - America - my safe haven. YouTube.com. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021 . Retrieved 8 August 2020. Norwich was the host of the BBC radio panel game My Word! from 1978 to 1982. He wrote and presented more than 30 television documentaries including Maestro, The Fall of Constantinople, Napoleon's Hundred Days, Cortés and Montezuma, Maximilian of Mexico, The Knights of Malta, The Treasure Houses of Britain, and The Death of the Prince Imperial in the Zulu War. Hashish (photographs by Suomi La Valle, historical profile by John Julius Norwich), Quartet Books, 1984, ISBN 978-0-7043-2450-3

It is difficult to summarise ‘Christmas’, but this book succeeds in doing just that. Is Christmas a mid- winter pagan festival to bring fire, food and hope in the midst of life threatening cold? Is it religious – to celebrate the birth of Christ? Is it to strengthen family and friend bonds, an excuse for socialising, which might lapse without a yearly attention? Is it just commercial – a mega spending frenzy? A Daughter's Life with Daddy Issues". The New York Times. 2 April 2009 . Retrieved 20 December 2015. Twas the Night Before Christmas: Edited by Santa Claus for the Benefit of Children of the 21st Century" (2012) being Pamela McColl "smoke-free" edit of Clement Clarke Moore's poem A History of England in 100 Places: From Stonehenge to the Gherkin, John Murray, 2012, ISBN 978-1-84854-609-7 a b "John Julius Norwich: Aristocrat historian and broadcaster whose passions were inspired by remarkable parents". The Independent. 2 June 2018. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022 . Retrieved 9 August 2018.Christmas Eve" ( Noch pered Rozhdestvom, 1832) by Nikolai Gogol (from Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka) One of my favourite passages was from Wind in the Willows, where the little field mice, with red worsted comforters round their throats, come to sing carols for mole. It sums up the magic and whimsicality of Christmas. The style of the letters is wonderful, and the subtly nuanced changes of vocabulary and tone as Emily becomes more and more disenchanted with her admirer’s gifts are very well executed. I particularly like the way that the way she opens and closes her letters becomes gradually more curt and formal. June 2008 (4 June 2008). " "John Julius Norwich:'Deep down, I'm shallow. I really am'", The Telegraph, 04 Jun 2008". Telegraph.co.uk . Retrieved 13 March 2020. {{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list ( link) Yardley, Jonathan. "John Julius Norwich's memoir, 'Trying to Please', reviewed by Jonathan Yardley", The Washington Post, 5 September 2010". Washingtonpost.com. 5 September 2010 . Retrieved 13 March 2020.

Board of Trustees, Vice Presidents and Patrons | Share Community". www.sharecommunity.org.uk. 20 March 2014 . Retrieved 10 March 2018. Shakespeare's Kings: the Great Plays and the History of England in the Middle Ages: 1337–1485, New York: Scribner, 2000, ISBN 978-0-684-81434-6 Joining the British Foreign Service after Oxford, John Julius Cooper served in Yugoslavia and Lebanon and as a member of the British delegation to the Disarmament Conference in Geneva. [13] On his father's death in 1954, he inherited the title of Viscount Norwich, created for his father, Duff Cooper, in 1952. [14] This gave him a right to sit in the House of Lords, though he lost this right with the House of Lords Act 1999. [15]Supplement to the London Gazette, 31st December 1992" (PDF). The London Gazette. p.4 . Retrieved 2 March 2022.

This is absolutely my favourite festive book ever. I’m sure I can’t be the only person who has ever thought how inconvenient the gifts in the song ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ would actually be to receive. In fact, with the exception of the five gold rings, I would be thoroughly peeved if my true love gave me any of those things. In this marvellous little book, John Julius Norwich takes the song to its logical conclusion and, in a series of increasingly frosty letters from Emily to her true love Edward, examines exactly how someone might react if they were to receive nine ladies dancing. A Visit from St. Nicholas" (also known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas", 1823) attributed to Clement Clarke MooreDarling Monster: The Letters of Lady Diana Cooper to Her Son John Julius Norwich (editor), Chatto & Windus, 2013, ISBN 978-0-7011-8779-8 Norwich worked extensively in radio and television. He was host of the BBC radio panel game My Word! for four years (1978–82) and also a regional contestant on Round Britain Quiz. He wrote and presented some 30 television documentaries, including The Fall of Constantinople, Napoleon's Hundred Days, Cortés and Montezuma, The Antiquities of Turkey, The Gates of Asia, Maximilian of Mexico, Toussaint l'Ouverture of Haiti, The Knights of Malta, Treasure Houses of Britain, and The Death of the Prince Imperial in the Zulu War. [18] a b "John Julius Norwich:: Introduction". www.johnjuliusnorwich.com. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016 . Retrieved 10 March 2018. The Italian World: History, Art and the Genius of a People (editor), Thames & Hudson, 1983, ISBN 978-0-500-25088-4