Well, it’s that time of year again, so for our last blog of 2010, we thought we’d take a look at some of the odder facts that surround Christmas in London; so saddle up the sleigh for our whistlestop tour through the weird and wonderful events that have marked many Christmases past.
Writers
Many of our most distinguished writers seemed to have a real affection for Christmas. Possibly the most famous is Charles Dickens, author of festive favourite A Christmas Carol (LTH favours the Muppet’s version!).
Dickens’ may have been inspired by the fact that his Christmases were pretty much always white, since he lived through the end of a mini Ice-age which struck London between 1550-1850. It was also partly responsible for the Frost Fairs of Tudor Times.
Regular readers of this blog will know that some of Dickens’ most memorable passages from A Christmas Carol came from really rather mundane things, like the indescribably ugly door knocker at 8 Craven Street, which came to decorate Scrooge’s front door, and host the ghost of Marley.
Robert Louis Stevenson appeared not to enjoy Christmas so much, or at least a close friend of his didn’t. Her birthday fell on Christmas day, which was fine for a while but did get a bit tiresome. Stevenson, being the kind-hearted soul that he was, legally donated his own birthday, a wintry 13th November, to his friend.
And finally, Rudyard Kipling, a Christmas baby himself was fond of writing items for public service, including The Cenotaph inscription and the very first Royal Christmas address, given by George V in 1932.
Christmas Food
Turkey is not actually the traditional Christmas lunch. Since days of yore, Londoners have supped on goose and boar’s head. The former is still relatively common today.
Turkeys only came to London in 1530 and it was a good while before they became the centrepiece of the year’s biggest meal. When they did, they used to be marched down from Norfolk, wearing tiny turkey boots to protect their feet!
The most famous goose was Leadenhall market’s Old Tom. He followed his lady friend over from Belgium in the eighteenth century, only to find himself at the centre of a slaughter which took over 34,000 goose lives in 2 days. Miraculously Old Tom survived and became a market celebrity, fed and cared for by surrounding innkeepers. When he eventually died (of natural causes) his body lay in state at the market, before being buried there.
And to wash all this sumptuous meat down, how about some Pig and Whistle? One of the UK’s most popular pub names actually comes from piggin and wassail, the piggin was a tankard and wassail a lovely Christmassy drink!
Bah, Humbug!
Christmas hasn’t always been so popular in London. During the Republican period, when Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector, Christmas greatly fell from grace. While rumours that he outright banned Christmas are untrue, he did ban mince pies. Whether he was offended by their royalist history – a giant mince pie was served at the coronation of Henry V – or just didn’t like their distinctive taste is unclear, but nonetheless, they were gone for the duration!
But now that Cromwell’s long gone, London Treasure Hunts is free to say to all our readers and hunters – a very merry Christmas, and a happy, healthy 2011!
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