Christmas

The music to Away in a Manger was composed by William J. Kirkpatrick in 1895. Gervaise Phinn remembers the words being more like “A Wayne in a Manger” and after inspecting primary schools around North Yorkshire he wrote a book with that title. There are two tunes that I know of but my favourite is [...]

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is a very old carol, having been sung for many hundreds of years before being published in 1833. It is one of the features of Dicken’s Christmas Carol.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Lyrics
1. God rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born upon this day,
To save [...]

Dmitri Medvedev, the Russian President, today attended the midnight service in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour cathedral to celebrate Christmas in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The service was presided over by Metropolitan Cyril, the interim leader of the Russian Orthodox Churchsince the death of Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II in December. Head of [...]

The Twelve Days of Christmas are the twelve days from Christmas until the beginning of Epiphany (January 6th; the 12 days count from December 25th until January 5th). In some traditions, the first day of Christmas begins on the evening of December 25th with the following day considered the First Day of Christmas (December [...]

Words: Na­hum Tate, 1700; first ap­peared in Tate and Bra­dy’s Psalter, 1702. Music: Christmas, George F. Han­del, 1728; ar­ranged in Har­mon­ia Sac­ra, 1812. Al­ter­nate tunes:

Martyrdom, Hugh Wilson, 1800; ar­ranged by Ralph E. Hud­son, cir­ca 1885
Shackelford, Fred­er­ick Hen­ry Chees­wright, 1889
Winchester Old, Este’s Psalt­er, 1592
On Ilkley Moor Ba’at ‘At (unknown)

“While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night” Lyrics
While [...]

Thursday, 25 December 2008, 9:25AM – 10:25AM ITV1
In this exclusive documentary for ITV1 Coleen Rooney presents a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most famous children’s hospitals in the world at the most magical time of the year – Christmas.
In the hour-long special from Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, Coleen gives viewers an insight [...]

Thursday, 25 December 2008, 10:30PM – 11:30PM ITV1
Comedy legend Stanley Baxter comes out of retirement to step briefly back into the spotlight in a nostalgic look back at his life and work, Stanley Baxter – Now & Then for ITV1.
Comedy actor and impressionist Stanley Baxter, seldom seen interviewed, will take viewers, for the first time [...]

ITV 1 Wednesday, 24 December 2008, 11:25AM – 12:25PM
Aled Jones goes in search of the people, places and fascinating stories behind Britain’s best loved Christmas Carols. Along the way he reveals his own personal favourite carol and exclusively performs all carols featured in the programme, along with the internationally renowned boys choir, Libera and The [...]

The hymn tune of “O Come All Ye Faithful” was originally written for a latin text “Adeste Fideles” and was composed by John Francis Wade in 1743. There are eight verses but the extra four are not often sung in England. The best arrangement of this song is in the Carols for Choirs books with [...]

Released on Thursday 4th December 2008, this spin-off from the Harry Potter series is an ideal present for children. It’s cheap, will make them sit down and read on Christmas day and you can then steal it and read it for yourself!
Containing clues that were to prove crucial to Harry Potter’s final mission to destroy [...]