The Twelve Days of Christmas

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The monologue is performed by the reading out of letters written by Emily Wilbraham to her lover Edward. Each day for twelve days, Edward sends her one of the gifts mentioned in "The Twelve Days of Christmas" carol and Emily responds with a letter for each day. The gifts eventually cause a breakdown in their relationship, with Emily's house and gardens being ruined by all the birds, animals, and personnel that Edward sends. [3] For the final letter, after Edward has sent members of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic to her, [2] Emily's solicitor G. Creep writes to inform Edward that Emily is seeking an injunction against him for harassment and would be seeking to return all the animals that were sent. 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’. He was educated at Egerton House School in Dorset Square, London, later becoming a boarder at the school when it was evacuated to Northamptonshire before the outbreak of the Second World War. [8] Because his father as Minister of Information was high on the Nazi enemies list of British politicians, Norwich's parents feared for their son's safety in the event of a German invasion of Britain. In 1940 they decided to send him away after the US ambassador to Britain, Joseph P. Kennedy, offered to bring him to the United States with other evacuee children on board the SS Washington. [9] He attended Upper Canada College, Toronto, Canada, while spending his holidays with the family of William S. Paley on Long Island in New York. [10] In 1942 he returned to Britain, [11] where he attended Eton College. After the war, he studied at the University of Strasbourg while his father was ambassador to France. [12] He completed his national service in the Royal Navy before taking a degree in French and Russian at New College, Oxford. [12] Career [ edit ] a b "John Julius Norwich:: Introduction". www.johnjuliusnorwich.com. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016 . Retrieved 10 March 2018. a b c Whyte, William (2022). "Cooper, John Julius, second Viscount Norwich (1929–2018), writer and broadcaster". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (onlineed.). Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000380455. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe, John Murray, 2016, ISBN 978-1-47363-295-0Web 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. 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. 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 History of Venice, Knopf, 1982 / Penguin, 1983 ISBN 978-0-679-72197-0, single-volume combined edition

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.' Board of Trustees, Vice Presidents and Patrons | Share Community". www.sharecommunity.org.uk. 20 March 2014 . Retrieved 10 March 2018. John Julius Norwich:: Television". John Julius Norwich. 2013. Archived from the original on 3 November 2018 . Retrieved 9 August 2020. Paradise of Cities, Venice and its Nineteenth-century Visitors, Viking/Penguin, 2003, ISBN 978-0-670-89401-7 Norwich's first wife was Anne Frances May Clifford, daughter of the Hon. Sir Bede Clifford; they had one daughter, the Hon. Artemis Cooper, a historian, and a son, the Hon. Jason Charles Duff Bede Cooper, an architect. [26] After their divorce, Norwich married his second wife, the Hon. Mary (Makins) Philipps, daughter of The 1st Baron Sherfield. [27]Hashish (photographs by Suomi La Valle, historical profile by John Julius Norwich), Quartet Books, 1984, ISBN 978-0-7043-2450-3 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] Web of Stories-Life Stories of Remarkable People (19 June 2018). John Julius Norwich - Early school days. YouTube.com. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021 . Retrieved 8 August 2020.