19th December: A Christmas Carol Day

Charles Dickens's yuletide tale was first published on this day in 1843. Here are 10 things you might not know...

1. In the beginning, Dickens set out to write a political pamphlet promoting charitable giving and educational reform . However, Dickens realised that a poignant story would be more effective than a political essay, and so he wrote A Christmas Carol instead.
2. The book took six weeks to write.
3. Dickens was fed up with his publisher because his previous novel, Martin Chuzzlewit, hadn't made as much money as he would have liked, so he paid for the publication himself. So you could argue that A Christmas Carol was a self-published novel (Death and Faxes is in good company...) However, Dickens still didn't make as much money as he had hoped. He wanted £1,000 (£86,000 in today's money) but only made £230 (£20,000). High production costs of the early editions were partly to blame.
4. The first edition was bound in red cloth and had gilt edged pages and some expensive etchings as illustrations. It was priced at five shillings (25p) which in today's money would be quite expensive for a novella at £21. Nevertheless, the first print run of 6,000 sold out by Christmas.
5. Dickens' profits were eaten away by legal costs when he sued Parley's Illuminated Library for pirating the story. Dickens won the case, but Parley's never paid up. They declared themselves bankrupt and Dickens was left with a legal bill for £700, and since the book only made £230, that was his profit gone and then some.
6. A Christmas Carol was well received by critics of the day, even those who had slammed Dickens novels in the past. "If Christmas, with its ancient and hospitable customs, its social and charitable observances, were ever in danger of decay, this is the book that would give them a new lease," wrote Thomas Hood. "A national benefit and to every man or woman who reads it, a personal kindness," wrote William Makepeace Thackeray. Theodore Martin, usually very hostile to Dickens, wrote "finely felt and calculated to work much social good".
7. The most severe criticisms levelled at the book were to do with the cost of it, and the fact that poor people, like the Cratchits, would not have been able to afford to buy it. The New Monthly Magazine said it should be printed on cheap paper and sold for much less.
8. Encouraged by the critical success of the book, Dickens tried to re-create the magic by writing a new Christmas book every year, producing The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life and The Haunted Man and The Ghost's Bargain. Although they sold well, they weren't as popular with the critics and Dickens was disappointed with them, so in 1849, he gave up and wrote David Copperfield instead.
9. Public readings of the tale were very popular and Dickens read an abridged version aloud to no less than 127 audiences. Captain Corbett-Smith read it to the troops in the trenches of World War I.
10. Stage and film adaptations abound. A stage play was produced the year after the book was published, and there have been many more, as well as 28 film versions. Actors who have played Scrooge in the various films, plays and TV adaptations include Albert Finney, Alastair Sim, Roddy McDowell, Roger Daltrey, Tim Curry, Jim Dale, Kelsey Grammer, Michael Caine and Jim Carrey. There have also been versions with a twist, including Blackadder's Christmas Carol (Ebenezer Blackadder starts out as a kind and generous person and turns mean) Whatever Happened to Tiny Tim? by John Mortimer (Tiny Tim grows up and becomes a rich man but even more miserable than Scrooge and so Scrooge's ghost has to try and save him) and I am Scrooge: A Zombie Story for Christmas (in which Tiny Tim's illness is an infectious virus that will bring about a zombie apocalypse).

My Christmas Novella!

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

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