Charles Dickens and the Invention of Christmas 1 320x240 2 00M h 264

[@ConstantCompanion]

We traditionally watch A Christmas Carol every Christmas. That and it's wonderful life. There's nothing wrong with being reminded that you can always start over, no matter how old you are or where you are in life. Tomorrow can be different. They're Beautiful Stories.

[@scottleft3672]

nothing beats the scene in the hebrew hammer of the kid who's stumbling high as a kite, repeting the line from It's a wonderful life...lol...and they try to give him a copy of Yentle to snap him out of it...one of the cleverest things ive seen.

[@mystical9054]

I take a poop every Christmas morning

[@raymondmcdonald355]

Amen 🙏🙏🙏❤❤❤

[@eunicestone838]

@@mystical9054 and I give one. Hahaha

[@raymondmcdonald355]

It's a Story of Redemption, which is available to All 😉👍🙏❤🙏❤

[@Cashcrop54]

I too watch “A Christmas Carol” every year. I have many versions and love them all. I also like to read the book from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

[@Markstewart20]

I listen to the Patrick Stewart audible book too!

[@Cashcrop54]

@@Markstewart20 I myself think his movie portrayal of Scrooge is excellent. All of the different actors bring something to enjoy to the movie or audiobook. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

[@Markstewart20]

@@Cashcrop54 and to you too😊

[@amazinggrace4924]

The newer movie made in the last five years or so… The man who invented Christmas… Is exceptional. I didn’t realize the depth of what that movie really meant. Anyone that loves this story should check out that movie.

[@debbiemcclure2874]

Ty, I will look for it😊

[@shibolinemress8913]

It's interesting that the 2 kids representing ignorance and poverty are left out of most of the modern presentations of A Christmas Carol that I've ever seen. I only found out about them very recently. (I must admit, I haven't yet read the original book.) I wonder why that is? Thank you for an amazing post! 😊

[@renegade637]

The first time I found out about their presence in the book was when I saw George C. Scott's version of A Christmas Carol. The most recent time was Disney's 2009 adaptation (which is rather ironic that Disney would be willing to go that far considering the bleakness the scene is supposed to represent). It can make sense from an intellectual point to add those elements to the story because it points to a problem man created by ignoring the plight of the poor. However, given the fact that the story is already rather bleak in regards to what will happen to Scrooge if he stays on the path that he is on and some audiences might not catch on to the symbolism, it's easier to just exclude that element and trust the righting to show audiences the importance of taking the time to think about your fellow members of mankind.

[@thewkovacs316]

@@renegade637 they are in the 51 and 70 versions

[@timothyj1966]

Thanks for uploading. Seems we are on the brink of losing some of the Victorian customs, most people under 30 have no idea the words to Carols, or exchange Cards, attend Church. Christmas seems to lose a little more of it's Magic each year. The 1951 Christmas Carol in black and white portrays Dicken's whole idea very well!

[@Markstewart20]

My pleasure I saw this a few years ago and then it disappeared I located it on some Chinese version of you tube and uploaded again shame its not on DVD?

[@sarahbrennan1342]

timothyj1966 well said I agree 😊🎄😊

[@ERomine]

timothyj1966 Spot on-well said! Merry Christmas to you!!

[@sagerose888h6]

timothyj1966 Agreed!! Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

[@jo-vf8jx]

nrmora31, I agree with pretty much everything you said. Christmas has become stressful, making sure you’ve bought everything the family wants or needs and then only to have them whine, crab, and complain that they didn’t get XYZ. All the while trying to make sure you’ve got a happy smile on your face but cringing on the inside. It’s no wonder so many people suffer from seasonal SAD. However, there are also the moments when your small children do have that face lite up upon seeing Santa and trying to keep the Christmas spirit alive for them for however long one can😊

[@JohannaLeigh]

I just finished watchin *"The Man Who Invented Christmas"* , and it seemed that the ghosts not only redeemed Scrooge but also Dickens, who had his own past with his father.

[@billsmith9711]

as Tim Cratchett once said, "God bless us, everyone!"

[@magmasunburst9331]

Classical composers wrote much Christmas music way before Dickens was born. Bach wrote the Christmas oratorio. Look for videos on medieval Christmas music.

[@unknownunknown-cs1tn]

this was really helpfull for my christmas carol gcse content🙂

[@mrcrowley7688]

who here doing this for english homework

[@dobrvics2073]

yup

[@actusspei6688]

Thank you so very much for sharing this delightful insight. I needed a dose of traditional Christmas .This rendition of how it came about in its most similiar form is interesting as well as it tells a different view than I've seen before. Thank you. Merry Christmas.

[@cynthianolder8587]

Life wasn't so happy later...He & his wife split after ten children, & he ended up with a much younger actress

[@Markstewart20]

many thanks

[@silentleopard1]

A Literary Genius in every respect !

[@Awesomeautisticgirl]

I share the same birthday as Charles Dickens. February 7th

[@EuniceStone-s9j]

So did Laura ingalls Wilder of Little House on the prairie books.

[@juliehawkins206]

Thank you everyone at Piedmont! Wonderful people where some of them saved my life and I am forever grateful! Love to you all!

[@flowersculptures]

Excellent program...thanks for sharing!

[@Markstewart20]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@litaperna1128]

I loved it.

[@litaperna1128]

Lovely and well researched. Thank you for your efforts.

[@Markstewart20]

There’s a much better version on BBC iPlayer at the moment

[@normlor]

A GREAT VIDEO IF ONLY THE RESOLUTION QUALITY WAS DECENT!!

[@Markstewart20]

its on BBC Iplayer at Christmas but I cant work out how to upload to KZbin??

[@ImranSahir1]

Dickens = Shakespeare of industrial age.

[@gracehanson1598]

so true

[@jadinnorman8198]

I agree

[@gazza2933]

Better than Shakespeare!

[@tubularbill]

Yes good analogy!

[@ajrwilde14]

charming show, thanks for uploading

[@sstrykert]

Dickens as a "Necromancer". Not sure if to laugh or worry. But love him as a writer.

[@pjruland]

That word means "wizard" or "magician."

[@sstrykert]

@@pjruland of the dead

[@tracesprite6078]

@@sstrykert Dickens was trying to be a magician of deadening memories. He could never forgive his mother for sending him into the nightmarish factory he worked in as a child. That work was necessary to rescue his tragically incompetent father from debtor's prison. His father wanted desperately to be the extravagant, spontaneous person that Dickens was able to be at Christmas time but his father was just an impoverished no-hoper. Dickens had to work frantically hard in order to keep ahead of his own generous fantasies of family life, and to quell those awful memories.

[@sstrykert]

@@tracesprite6078 desperation yields innovation

[@tracesprite6078]

@@sstrykert Yes, in the case of Dickens desperation did lead to innovation - because Dickens had the talent to be a great writer and was willing to do the massive amount of hard work involved. He also had supportive friends who encouraged him - and he had his loyal readers. Without readers there are no writers so readers do a vital literary task.

[@marycallahan1224]

Merry Christmas 🎄🎁 Happy New Year 🎆🎈

[@shibolinemress8913]

In a way, Dickens re-invention of Christmas (along with Washington Irving, Clement Clark Moore, Thomas Nast and many others) was a much bigger version of what Sarah Josepha Hale did for Thanksgiving. Victorian historians in America rather arbitrarily declared the Pilgrims' 1621 feast to have been "the first Thanksgiving", even though it had fallen into obscurity for over 200 years, and had little to do with the New England Thanksgiving tradition that Hale popularised. It seems like the Victorians were always re-inventing their history.

[@Markstewart20]

As Griff says that the Victorians were rocketing into modernity with an eye on the past?

[@shibolinemress8913]

@@Markstewart20 Exactly! 😊👍

[@eliotreader8220]

@@Markstewart20 they probably also had an eye on the future as well.

[@blankwhite4630]

Oh! I love The Christmas Carol!

[@chasidahL]

Superb documentary. Does anyone know the name of the song played on the piano in the parlour at the end? 🤔

[@barbarakuras2129]

Bardzo dobre podsumowanie....😊

[@anniefinch6843]

I remember this book and it's a classic book.

[@bettyglitter4760]

What a glimpse of the Victian era. I knew nothing about that time.

[@attl3e286]

Can someone give me some notes for my English work

[@yourmother6533]

That would help a lot

[@scottleft3672]

Christmas was RE- INVENTED by Dickens.and improved the festive season we have come to know....christmas is old as the romans (354 a.d. VIII kal. ian. natus Christus in Betlehem Iudeæ ) Charlemagne was crowned on christmas day, the 12 days of christmas were known in the 13th century, later the puritans banned christmas....riots followed...german lutherans changed it to the date we now know...and it DOES snow in bethlehem about the 25th...the most important historical aspect is St Wensiclaus, king of Bohemia, who celebrated the feast of Stephen (dec 26) by discreetly giving alms to the poor

[@sarahbrennan1342]

scott left yes your right... he improved not invented Christmas 🎄🎄🎄🎄

[@Historian212]

Even older than the Romans!

[@MrJm323]

Well, ...it's older than even Christianity. The Dies Natalis Soli Invicti, the Sol Novus, Brumalia, a day in the festival of Saturnalia, etc. People had lots of reasons for celebrating the resurgence of the Sun's power.

[@c.a.g.3130]

Your last comment is precisely one reason why Jesus was born nowhere near December 25. It is not true Christmas is as old as the Romans; it is as old as Satan himself who has been in the counterfeit message business since ancient times. I wonder what part of the sermon on the mount includes the command to 'riot' in the face of denial of a shopping holiday. The Whore of Babylon marches on.

[@c.a.g.3130]

@Stizel Swik Strangely though, the holiday called Christmas is also referred to as the "incarnation,' which, of course, is different from the nativity. Christ became incarnate, of the Holy Ghost, as CONCEPTION, not at birth. His incarnation, not his birth, is the really remarkable event in human history and, strange and coincidental as it may seem, it would not surprise me if Dec. 25 is precisely the date on which that conception occurred. God has a remarkable way of checkmating even the most insidious of Satan's schemes to counterfeit His plan of redemption. Of course, as remarkable as that may be as both a human event and a fulfillment of prophecy, the truly significant event, on which we all rely, is not his birth but his DEATH. "For when you eat this bread and drink this wine you celebrate his DEATH." Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. Hallelujah!

[@gracehanson1598]

This is very educational.

[@forestpepper3621]

Charles Dickens has become the patron saint of retail stores. The traditional Dickensian Christmas has become the biggest money making season of the year. God bless Christmas shoppers, every one! Bah Humbug.

[@lw3646]

The idea of businesses not opening on christmas though is also partly down to him. Sadly Black Friday seems to be taking over now as the big sales day

[@Degan1000]

The victorians loved history. Especially history as they re-wrote it.

[@tinabaker4662]

Jeff Foehringer rubbish

[@altareggo]

As they say: Why let them pesky little facts get in the way of a good story?? Herr Trump lives by these words every single day - or more likely every moment, since his memory for actual (as opposed to "alternative") facts is shorter than your average goldfish :-=).

[@ministryofanti-feminism1493]

No one lies about history more than the post-war Liberal 'educational' establishment. Just ask honest Germans.

[@altareggo]

@@ministryofanti-feminism1493 I am certain that conservatives have also contributed to the innacuracies in the history curriculum. For example, the traditional presentation of Thanksgiving and the. wars against the First Nation peoples

[@ministryofanti-feminism1493]

@@altareggo 'First Nation peoples'? What is that nonsense? Inaccuracies in the historical narratives will always exist, but what is rampant today is the anti-white message that runs through modern interpretations of history, especially with regard to colonialism. For example, did you know that fellow whites were enslaved in the New World BEFORE and IN GREATER numbers than Negroes ever were? The primary sources are contained in Jordan & Walsh's book White Cargo. And then there's the nonsense about angelic Jews being thrown into mythical 'gas chambers' during the second world war, even though millions of them magically appeared in Israel and the USA from 1948, and even though all the documentation proves that the deaths that occured in the camps were identified as occurring by way of starvation and disease.

[@artistrenibifamovon]

Is it connected with Midnight in Paris from Woody Allen, i Love that

[@rogerhennie8939]

Was it coincidence that he wrote A Christmas carol immediately after returning from a 6 Months Tour of the US? Can he have been inspired by Something?

[@pygiana16]

I think there’s something in that theory. The poem ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas has been just as important in the invention of the modern Christmas and the figure of Santa Claus, and that was some decades earlier than A Christmas Carol.

[@TheCombatartist]

Wonderful! But where is part 2?

[@Markstewart20]

Should be on my channel. The BBC put this out last Christmas in glorious HD!!

[@animeismysoul11037]

Have to watch this as homework and answer questions about it. Anyone else?

[@debbiemcclure2874]

This was very interesting indeed. I really enjoyed it. I do wish the ending hadn't been cut off lol. Tyfs God bless you

[@Markstewart20]

there is a part 2🙂

[@debbiemcclure2874]

@@Markstewart20 oh ok...ty 😀

[@jadinnorman8198]

Yay for Christmas

[@colinp2238]

Yay for humbugs!

[@JohannaLeigh]

How long did it take Dickens to recoup the costs of the elaborate book design and start making a profit on the book?

[@JohannaLeigh]

Good idea. And apparently, he was a very good, articulate, passionate and humorous in his presentations. Charles Dickens reading one of his stories would have me running to the nearest book store afterward. @@thewkovacs316

[@barbaramoran8690]

Scrooge a favorite story I watch several versions each year On You Tube someone made a Scrooge story using Thomas choo choo characters Called The Stingiest Train in Town You’ll like it very creative

[@MsDana-mo9fp]

Many of the traditions we celebrate today come from Queen Victoria & her husband! The Christmas Season does not even begin until Christmas Eve - before then it's Advent - and lasts until Epiphany of Jan. 6th the 12 the day! I dislike it when people celebrate it wrong!

[@richardranke3158]

"People were having big celebrations at Winter Solstice time when the Flintstones were kids." The holiday was originally celebrated to mark the days starting to grow longer. It was the early Christians who converted Dec. 25th into a celebration of Jesus' birth. This way the converts to Christianity could keep their big year-end holiday...only something different to celebrate. Instead of the coming of the Sun, it would be the coming of the Son.(Chuckle!) Jesus was probably born sometime in mid-fall.

[@edwardprice140]

At 4:09 Lucinda Hawksley reminds me very much of William F. Buckley . In a good way.

[@littlegraysheep]

Tough to find this, GJ OP

[@eliotreader8220]

Scrooge also doesn't let the fire to be stoked up with more coal. no wonder he had got a chill in his nose

[@BeatrizJvictory]

I can´t understand why BBC is so selfish with the other countries and doesn´t share that material with the rest of the world. As a teacher I´l like to teach my students about Charles Dickens Life and I find that they don´t allow me to use it. Nonsense! British should be proud of their culture.

[@Markstewart20]

I totally agree

[@peterfreeman6677]

Why does this end so abruptly?

[@Markstewart20]

Peter, I had to upload in 2 x parts, watch the second one?

[@matthewlewin4133]

my teacher gave up and sent me this link lol

[@neyojones8686]

Very nice

[@steeviem1835]

No wonder he was made a, 'Sir!' Dickens boosted the economy winter season. Thanks to re-inventing Christmas!

[@pygiana16]

He never was made a Sir, never knighted.

[@eliotreader8220]

@@pygiana16 or given an OBE while we are on the subject of Mr Dickens. but Queen Victoria did let him be laid to rest in Westminster Abby

[@catgladwell5684]

He wasn't. His biographer Peter Ackroyd wrote that he may have declined a knighthood. I can't see it.

[@ajrwilde14]

wow never heard of the antiquarians

[@colinp2238]

Do they live underwater?

[@JoshTPlayz]

4k quality Ultra HD HDR quality picture

[@henrygatt4156]

Mrs Burns is a lad

[@lesliekwallah8778]

20:32 "hello there"

[@deafsquid6978]

General Kinobe

[@lordmegatron4789]

who doesn't refer to his wife as "the donkey" amirite guys?

[@Markstewart20]

Ha!

[@omfug7148]

he was horrible to her eventually, dumped her for a 17 year old actress after keeping his wife Katherine continually pregnant for 15 years (she grew fat and was a semi invalid and thus no longer attractive.)

[@bettyglitter4760]

@@omfug7148 Oh no! That's terrible

[@omfug7148]

@@bettyglitter4760 here is the complete, sad story (btw just because Dickens was an asshole it doesn't mean that he wasn't a genius, his work has stood the test of time, it is just interesting that as much sympathy as he had for the poor, he had none for his wife of decades.) kzbin.info/www/bejne/oGixpIpnebCcZ5Y

[@gwendolynpitts6326]

Great historical on the legendary christmas horror story

[@bser3973]

Theirs always the , lost in translation.

[@colinp2238]

Griff Rhys Jones, bah humbug!

[@felixbarkham7897]

yes

[@tengizbirbachadze6138]

👍💖🙏

[@jamesmason187]

Hello priory school!

[@Willyjohn69420]

Jimbo McMason owns my brother

[@jamesmason187]

@@Willyjohn69420 yes he is mine!😎

[@Willyjohn69420]

@@jamesmason187 pp

[@jamesmason187]

@@Willyjohn69420 ja

[@normlor]

ACTUALLY GOOSE AND NOT ONE MENTION OF TURKEY!!

[@misscoutts6193]

The goose Martha!

[@Whipplets77]

😊

[@kailiabay9441]

ya

[@jadinnorman8198]

Yas

[@soslothful]

Could the quality be any worse? Unwatchable.

[@Markstewart20]

coincidentally it was on BBC4 last night in full HD!

[@Markstewart20]

Try www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b008lykb/charles-dickens-and-the-invention-of-christmas

[@altareggo]

Humbug.

[@movesky6696]

ba ham bug

[@Willyjohn69420]

Bah humbug

[@annep.1905]

Yeah, right. Historical revisionism on steroids.

[@cherokeegypsy2617]

The invention of Christmas?! Bah Humbug! What an inappropriate absurdist title! And that Charles Dickens, of whom much can be credited for his Victorian contribution of the celebration of Christmas, would surely disapprove of laying claim to “inventing” the Christian holiday! There’s something to be said for the humble birth of a Jewish babe laying in a straw-filled manger in a Bethlehem stable! As great as Dickens was, his is not the greatest story to be told at Christ-mass.