.I dedicate my song today to four Facebook friends who are celebrating their birthday today. They are Betsy Holly from Syracuse in New York: Carole Handley from Halifax, West Yorkshire: Joanne O’Dwyer from Carrick-on-Suir in County Tipperary and Elizabeth Noble from Mirfield in West Yorkshire.
Today’s Christmas song is ‘Santa Baby.’ This is a 1953 Christmas song that was written by Joan Javits and Phillip Springer. The song was initially sung and popularised by Eartha Kitt. It was recorded and released in July 1953 and October 1953, respectively.
The song essentially is a long list of expensive Christmas presents by some seductive woman looking for a Father Christmas ‘sugar daddy’ to lavish her with seasonal riches and presumably worldly wealth. A kind of ‘Gold Digger’ I imagine.
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I remember the first time I heard this song being sung in the seductive voice of Eartha Kitt over the family radio. It was one of the songs doing the rounds during my last few months of normality. Within months of the song having been released, I had incurred life-threatening injuries. I was a hospital patient for nine months and couldn’t walk for over two years following hospital discharge.
For my first three weeks in hospital, I was in and out of consciousness, and the hospital doctors told my parents to prepare for me dying. Prior to my accident, my dad had bought me a rusty old bike from the Market Place in Cleckheaton for me to learn to ride, for the price of ten shillings. It was a relic from the ‘Second World War’ era and probably lost its brakes and mudguards during the bombing of the Blitz. Still, despite its age, I loved that bike and I did learn to ride it before my legs became mangled after my body had been twisted around the main drive shaft of the wagon that ran over me.
When I was at my worse, my father held my hand and promised that if I lived, he would buy me a brand-new bicycle. He thought it was a promise he would never have to keep. When I pulled through, he was then informed by the medics that my damaged spine would prevent me ever being able to walk again.
I was the oldest of seven children and my father was a miner whose weekly wage was always less than the average household spends on bare necessities. Whether I walked again never came into my father’s consideration when deciding if he should buy me a new bicycle. He had given me his word that he would when I was on my death bed, and we still lived in an age when a man’s word was his bond. My father used to tell me long before my accident that ‘the only thing a poor man had to give another was his word and if a man broke his word, he lost the only thing he had.’
Dad kept his promise and bought me a brand-new Raleigh bicycle with the latest Sturmey Archer three-speed attachment. The bicycle was naturally purchased on the ‘never-never’ and it took my father three years to pay it off. During this period of bicycle repayment, dad forfeited five shillings weekly from his ten shillings spending money. Fortunately, dad never smoked nor drank alcohol and his only earthly pleasure was a bag of toffees and a bar of dark chocolate which he bought every wage night.
For many months after my hospital discharge, the brand-new bicycle stood in the hallway, although I could not ride it, it didn’t stop me polishing it twice daily. It took me two years before I could ride the bicycle properly again and fully regain the mobility of my legs.
As I lay in my hospital bed at my most critical time, I heard a doctor tell my parents that I would be dead by the morning and I will never forget my hearing my mother sob at this news. My immediate reaction was to tell myself, “I’m not going to die!”. At that precise moment, I made a promise with my God that if He spared my life, I would use the remainder of it helping others. While I have fallen short of the mark on several occasions, I have in the main, kept the bargain I struck with my God ever since, just as my dear father kept his promise with me to buy me a new bicycle if I lived.
Incidentally, I was reminded of my hospital bedside scene two years after my road accident, when the film ‘Reach for the Sky’ came out in 1956. The film had an almost identical scene in it, where the actor(Kenneth Moore) playing the wartime pilot, Douglas Bader, also heard the doctor at the end of his hospital bed say he’d be dead in the morning and he silently said, ‘Oh no I won’t!’.
There will be many a child this year who will receive far too many presents under the family Christmas tree, but there will be just as many children with empty stomachs in other parts of the world who will receive nothing. For these children and their families, Christmas is not a time to celebrate. Many families living on the poverty line in Great Britain, will view this seasonal time, as being the time of year that highlights gross inequalities, injustices and wide disparities that exist between our richest and poorest citizens in the land.
In modern society, too few children have a true appreciation for the most special presents of all. The most special presents of all one can have this Christmas are the presence of a loving God, loving parents, a loving family, loving neighbours and loving friends. To have one’s own roof to safely sleep beneath, and enough income to heat one’s home and provide adequate clothing and suitable footwear is a material bonus. To have sufficient income to provide food, shelter and heat is the basic requirement for one’s good health, hope and happiness.
I will never forget the words of my dear mother after I complained to her once. I indicated that coming from a poor family, I could never expect to inherit anything substantial. My mother smiled and said, “When me and your dad dies, Billy, we will have left you the greatest inheritance of all; your six brothers and sisters. Make sure that you look after each other.” How right she was!
Should any of you know a child aged between 4-8 years who likes stories, my most popular story for this age range is about a precocious young girl called ‘Annie’. The story is called, ‘Annie’s Christmas Surprise’. This is one of the stories to be found in my book ‘The Complete Action Annie Omnibus’. This book of twelve seasonal stories spread throughout the year began when the late Catherine Cookson read the very first Annie story of mine. The story was inspired by a question that puzzled the curious Annie, “Why does Father Christmas give his biggest and best presents to the children with rich parents and his smallest and cheapest presents to the children with poor parents?” When Annie asks her mother, mum replies, “He doesn’t, Annie!”
Dame Catherine Cookson liked the story so much that the very next wedding anniversary she and her husband, Tom, celebrated, the couple paid to have the very first limited edition of the ‘Action Annie Omnibus’ published with all the sale profits going to a children’s charity. The then Chief Inspector of Schools for Ofsted (the late Chris Woodward), read ‘Annie’s Christmas Surprise’ to a school assembly of children in Littletown, West Yorkshire. Later, in a press interview he gave to ‘The Guardian’ newspaper, Chris Woodhead kindly described my book as being of ‘high-quality literature’.
‘The Complete Action Annie Omnibus’ is my most popular book with the young children who have not yet learned to read and are read to, as well as young readers under the age of 9 years of age. ‘The Complete Action Annie Omnibus’ book can be purchased in either hardback or e-book format. Any of the twelve stories can also be purchased individually in e-book format from Amazon/Kindle for just over £1.
IT IS POSSIBLE TO ACCESS ‘Annie’s Christmas Surprise’ FREE OF CHARGE in e-book format by accessing https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/115301.
I have done this as an introduction to the character of Annie and the other eleven seasonal stories about her. These books were written to educate as well as entertain and all profit from their sales go to charitable causes in perpetuity (over £200,000 given to charity between 1990 and 2003).
I wish the four people celebrating their birthday today, a lovely day filled with much love, happiness and lots of cake and suitable refreshments. Thank you all for being my Facebook friends.
Have a happy Christmas everyone. Love and peace Bill and Sheila xxx
Today’s Christmas song is ‘Santa Baby.’ This is a 1953 Christmas song that was written by Joan Javits and Phillip Springer. The song was initially sung and popularised by Eartha Kitt. It was recorded and released in July 1953 and October 1953, respectively.
The song essentially is a long list of expensive Christmas presents by some seductive woman looking for a Father Christmas ‘sugar daddy’ to lavish her with seasonal riches and presumably worldly wealth. A kind of ‘Gold Digger’ I imagine.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I remember the first time I heard this song being sung in the seductive voice of Eartha Kitt over the family radio. It was one of the songs doing the rounds during my last few months of normality. Within months of the song having been released, I had incurred life-threatening injuries. I was a hospital patient for nine months and couldn’t walk for over two years following hospital discharge.
For my first three weeks in hospital, I was in and out of consciousness, and the hospital doctors told my parents to prepare for me dying. Prior to my accident, my dad had bought me a rusty old bike from the Market Place in Cleckheaton for me to learn to ride, for the price of ten shillings. It was a relic from the ‘Second World War’ era and probably lost its brakes and mudguards during the bombing of the Blitz. Still, despite its age, I loved that bike and I did learn to ride it before my legs became mangled after my body had been twisted around the main drive shaft of the wagon that ran over me.
When I was at my worse, my father held my hand and promised that if I lived, he would buy me a brand-new bicycle. He thought it was a promise he would never have to keep. When I pulled through, he was then informed by the medics that my damaged spine would prevent me ever being able to walk again.
I was the oldest of seven children and my father was a miner whose weekly wage was always less than the average household spends on bare necessities. Whether I walked again never came into my father’s consideration when deciding if he should buy me a new bicycle. He had given me his word that he would when I was on my death bed, and we still lived in an age when a man’s word was his bond. My father used to tell me long before my accident that ‘the only thing a poor man had to give another was his word and if a man broke his word, he lost the only thing he had.’
Dad kept his promise and bought me a brand-new Raleigh bicycle with the latest Sturmey Archer three-speed attachment. The bicycle was naturally purchased on the ‘never-never’ and it took my father three years to pay it off. During this period of bicycle repayment, dad forfeited five shillings weekly from his ten shillings spending money. Fortunately, dad never smoked nor drank alcohol and his only earthly pleasure was a bag of toffees and a bar of dark chocolate which he bought every wage night.
For many months after my hospital discharge, the brand-new bicycle stood in the hallway, although I could not ride it, it didn’t stop me polishing it twice daily. It took me two years before I could ride the bicycle properly again and fully regain the mobility of my legs.
As I lay in my hospital bed at my most critical time, I heard a doctor tell my parents that I would be dead by the morning and I will never forget my hearing my mother sob at this news. My immediate reaction was to tell myself, “I’m not going to die!”. At that precise moment, I made a promise with my God that if He spared my life, I would use the remainder of it helping others. While I have fallen short of the mark on several occasions, I have in the main, kept the bargain I struck with my God ever since, just as my dear father kept his promise with me to buy me a new bicycle if I lived.
Incidentally, I was reminded of my hospital bedside scene two years after my road accident, when the film ‘Reach for the Sky’ came out in 1956. The film had an almost identical scene in it, where the actor(Kenneth Moore) playing the wartime pilot, Douglas Bader, also heard the doctor at the end of his hospital bed say he’d be dead in the morning and he silently said, ‘Oh no I won’t!’.
There will be many a child this year who will receive far too many presents under the family Christmas tree, but there will be just as many children with empty stomachs in other parts of the world who will receive nothing. For these children and their families, Christmas is not a time to celebrate. Many families living on the poverty line in Great Britain, will view this seasonal time, as being the time of year that highlights gross inequalities, injustices and wide disparities that exist between our richest and poorest citizens in the land.
In modern society, too few children have a true appreciation for the most special presents of all. The most special presents of all one can have this Christmas are the presence of a loving God, loving parents, a loving family, loving neighbours and loving friends. To have one’s own roof to safely sleep beneath, and enough income to heat one’s home and provide adequate clothing and suitable footwear is a material bonus. To have sufficient income to provide food, shelter and heat is the basic requirement for one’s good health, hope and happiness.
I will never forget the words of my dear mother after I complained to her once. I indicated that coming from a poor family, I could never expect to inherit anything substantial. My mother smiled and said, “When me and your dad dies, Billy, we will have left you the greatest inheritance of all; your six brothers and sisters. Make sure that you look after each other.” How right she was!
Should any of you know a child aged between 4-8 years who likes stories, my most popular story for this age range is about a precocious young girl called ‘Annie’. The story is called, ‘Annie’s Christmas Surprise’. This is one of the stories to be found in my book ‘The Complete Action Annie Omnibus’. This book of twelve seasonal stories spread throughout the year began when the late Catherine Cookson read the very first Annie story of mine. The story was inspired by a question that puzzled the curious Annie, “Why does Father Christmas give his biggest and best presents to the children with rich parents and his smallest and cheapest presents to the children with poor parents?” When Annie asks her mother, mum replies, “He doesn’t, Annie!”
Dame Catherine Cookson liked the story so much that the very next wedding anniversary she and her husband, Tom, celebrated, the couple paid to have the very first limited edition of the ‘Action Annie Omnibus’ published with all the sale profits going to a children’s charity. The then Chief Inspector of Schools for Ofsted (the late Chris Woodward), read ‘Annie’s Christmas Surprise’ to a school assembly of children in Littletown, West Yorkshire. Later, in a press interview he gave to ‘The Guardian’ newspaper, Chris Woodhead kindly described my book as being of ‘high-quality literature’.
‘The Complete Action Annie Omnibus’ is my most popular book with the young children who have not yet learned to read and are read to, as well as young readers under the age of 9 years of age. ‘The Complete Action Annie Omnibus’ book can be purchased in either hardback or e-book format. Any of the twelve stories can also be purchased individually in e-book format from Amazon/Kindle for just over £1.
IT IS POSSIBLE TO ACCESS ‘Annie’s Christmas Surprise’ FREE OF CHARGE in e-book format by accessing https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/115301.
I have done this as an introduction to the character of Annie and the other eleven seasonal stories about her. These books were written to educate as well as entertain and all profit from their sales go to charitable causes in perpetuity (over £200,000 given to charity between 1990 and 2003).
I wish the four people celebrating their birthday today, a lovely day filled with much love, happiness and lots of cake and suitable refreshments. Thank you all for being my Facebook friends.
Have a happy Christmas everyone. Love and peace Bill and Sheila xxx
