The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - PREVIEW： Chronicles #27 ｜ Letters From Father Christmas

00:00:00.000 Merry Christmas friends and welcome to Chronicles. Today we're going to be talking all about

00:00:19.160 Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien because you've all been such wonderful fans of

00:00:26.980 the show. You've been so well behaved in the comments section this year and so I thought that

00:00:33.080 giving you some Tolkien would be a very genuine Christmas present from myself to you and I hope

00:00:40.640 that you really enjoy it. Now the Letters from Father Christmas are a really really beautiful

00:00:48.780 book. It couldn't strictly be called a novel nor could it really be called a novel by letters even

00:00:57.640 though that's what they are. Really what you have here with Letters from Father Christmas is private

00:01:04.680 letters written by Tolkien posing as Father Christmas to his four children to John, Michael, Christopher

00:01:14.160 and the youngest Priscilla over the space of about 23 years. Now these are very very sweet and I

00:01:24.160 actually think as well there is something in there for both children and adults as well. It's a really

00:01:30.780 really beautiful book. It's graced with some of Tolkien's drawings as well because as well as being

00:01:38.260 master of languages and having one of the great imaginations Tolkien was also a wonderful drawer and so

00:01:46.740 when you actually look at the images from these letters as they came in the in the envelopes and with

00:01:54.220 the drawings inside these are absolutely spectacular. But even if it isn't in a technical sense an

00:02:01.480 epistillary novel it does still have a through line. There is a great deal of continuity in it

00:02:08.140 and very much you can tell in the way that Tolkien is writing it much as he did with Middle Earth as

00:02:14.860 well. Middle Earth like the land of the North Pole as we'll see here is actually something that already

00:02:21.380 exists and Tolkien is not in the business of creating a new world so much as he is discovering a new world

00:02:29.940 as if the thing were real in and of itself and it's already here waiting to be discovered particularly of

00:02:37.020 course by his four children though we'll get into the analysis of it all after we've spoken about

00:02:43.740 it. I will just say as well actually before we begin that this particular text you'll see here

00:02:50.220 says edited by Bailey Tolkien. Now Bailey was the second wife of sorry I say was I do believe she's still

00:03:00.740 alive in fact the second wife of the late wonderful Christopher Tolkien who of course was an exemplary

00:03:09.700 son and a true steward of all of his father's works having a lot of Tolkien's writings on Middle Earth

00:03:17.300 that he couldn't get published in his own time eventually finding their way to the publishers so

00:03:22.580 that we could enjoy such things as the Silmarillion, Children of Hurin and other wonderful tales,

00:03:29.140 Roverandum is another example and so yeah absolutely wonderful stuff but these letters were thought lost

00:03:38.580 and discovered in a draw in very very good condition a few years after Tolkien passed away back in 73 and so

00:03:48.420 we're graced with them now and I would encourage you to make them a staple of your own Christmas

00:03:54.500 and I will go through the plot I've employed a lot of extracts from the text itself on this particular

00:04:01.460 occasion and so let us hear some wonderful Christmassy words from Father Christmas himself

00:04:08.340 in Father Christmas first letter to Tolkien's eldest son John who was just three years old at the time of

00:04:21.380 this writing we're treated to a simple but enchanted introduction to our great hero

00:04:29.140 dear John I heard you ask daddy what I was like and where I lived I have drawn me and my house for you

00:04:36.980 take care of the picture I am just off now for Oxford with my bundle of toys some for you hope I

00:04:44.900 shall arrive in time the snow is very thick at the North Pole tonight your loving Father Christmas

00:04:52.100 a few years on John receives another letter from Father Christmas and this time we see

00:04:57.940 Tolkien fleshing out his characterization with Father Christmas's staple signature shaky handwriting

00:05:05.220 my dear John it is very cold today and my hand is very shaky I am 1924 no seven years old on Christmas

00:05:17.460 day lots older than your great grandfather so I can't stop the pen wobbling but I hear that you are

00:05:24.820 getting so good at reading that I expect you will be able to read my letter I send you lots of love and

00:05:32.180 lots for Michael too and lots bricks too which are called that because there are lots more for you to

00:05:38.100 have next year if you let me know in good time I think they are prettier and stronger and tidier than

00:05:45.140 pick bricks so I hope you will like them now I must go it is a lovely fine night and I have got hundreds of

00:05:52.740 miles to go before morning there is such a lot to do a cold kiss from father Nicholas Christmas

00:06:01.460 John's letter from 1924 is brief as father Christmas is making ready for his great odyssey through the sky

00:06:09.700 but it is significant because it is now not just his words in the letter in great thick unjoined letters

00:06:17.780 we are introduced to father Christmas's most important helper the great polar bear father

00:06:24.340 Christmas was in a great hurry told me to put in one of his magic wishing crackers as you pull wish

00:06:31.540 and see if it doesn't come true excuse thick writing I have a fat paw I help father Christmas

00:06:38.820 with his packing I live with him I am the great polar bear Michael receives his first personal letter

00:06:47.460 from father Christmas in the same year and tucked into it as some magic wishing crackers so that he

00:06:53.620 may get the presents he hopes for next year 1925 is an exceedingly busy year for father Christmas and

00:07:00.500 his friends this latest letter is addressed from cliff house top of the world near the north pole

00:07:07.620 Christmas 1925 detailed within is the first great flair of Tolkien's creativity forging father

00:07:16.420 Christmas's time up in the north into an ongoing narrative my dear boys I am dreadfully busy this

00:07:23.220 year it makes my hand more shaky than ever when I think of it and not very rich in fact awful things

00:07:31.140 have been happening and some of the presents have got spoiled and I haven't got north polar bear to help

00:07:37.620 me and I have had to move house just before Christmas so you can imagine what a state everything is in

00:07:45.300 and you will see why I have a new address and why I can only write one letter between you both

00:07:51.940 it all happened like this one very windy day last November my hood blew off and went and stuck on the

00:08:00.100 top of the north pole I told him not to but the north polar bear climbed up to the thin top to get it down

00:08:07.300 and he did the pole broke in the middle and fell on the roof of my house and the north polar bear fell

00:08:15.220 through the hole it made into the dining room with my hood over his nose and all the snow fell off the

00:08:21.940 roof into the house and melted and put out all the fires and ran down into the cellars where I was

00:08:29.620 collecting this year's presents and the north polar bear's leg got broken he is well again now but I

00:08:37.060 was so cross with him that he says he won't try to help me again I expect his temper is hurt and will

00:08:44.340 be mended by next Christmas I send you a picture of the accident and of my new house on the cliffs above

00:08:51.620 the north pole with beautiful cellars in the cliffs if John can't read my old shaky writing

00:08:59.220 1925 years old he must get his father too when is Michael going to learn to read and write his own

00:09:08.020 letters to me lots of love to you both and Christopher whose name is rather like mine

00:09:14.100 that's all goodbye father Christmas extracts from the year of 1926 evidence a year of particular havoc

00:09:22.820 as a north polar bear in his infinite curiosity turned on the Rory Borealis fireworks recounting the

00:09:31.380 chaos to Tolkien's sons father Christmas reflects it was the biggest bang in the world and the most

00:09:37.940 monstrous firework there ever has been it turned the north pole black and shook all the stars out of

00:09:46.740 place broke the moon into four and the man in it fell into my back garden he ate quite a lot of my

00:09:55.140 Christmas chocolates before he said he felt better and climbed back to mend it and get the stars tidy

00:10:02.660 imagine two years worth of northern lights thrust into the arctic firmament such glorious splendor

00:10:11.460 writing in his own defense the north polar bear merely says it was a lovely firework in 1927 father

00:10:20.340 Christmas wistfully reflects on the fact that John did not write to him this year but otherwise things are

00:10:27.220 well at the north pole polar bear and the snowman have been enjoying a snowball fight and father

00:10:32.980 Christmas was recently visited by the man in the moon who naturally gets quite lonely up there the

00:10:39.540 two friends tucked into some splendid plum pudding it is a time of mirth and things continue in this way for

00:10:46.980 several years after the north polar bear has been pen palling for some years he shares some of his culture with

00:10:53.780 the tolkien children he explains that the reason why his letters are always laced with spelling mistakes

00:11:00.660 is because english is not his first language giving tolkien an opportunity to of course infuse his own

00:11:07.700 love of languages into his world building father Christmas says my english spelling is not good i can't

00:11:15.620 help it we don't speak english up here only arctic which you don't know we also make our letters

00:11:23.540 different i have made mine like arctic letters for you to see we always write a vertical arrow for t

00:11:31.220 and v for u this is some arctic language which means goodbye till i see you next and i hope it will be

00:11:39.700 soon my real name is cara but i don't tell most people hints are dropped across several letters

00:11:52.340 that the children will be gifted the presents they've wished for and been so good to deserve

00:11:57.140 over the years paints model train sets teddy bears what's more father Christmas informs the children that

00:12:04.660 the polar bear's nephews are visiting during the winter of 1931 their names are paksu and valkatuka

00:12:12.740 youthful cubs which appear to bring added stress to father christmas's labors ink in the fire and

00:12:19.220 presents in their bellies they certainly take after their uncle grimmer tidings reach the children on

00:12:25.220 november the 30th 1932 polar bear has gone missing an explanation arrives from father christmas several

00:12:33.140 weeks later goblins father christmas is visited by old mr cave brown cave one of the last few cave bears

00:12:42.100 that dwell in the arctic the ancient noble beast leads father christmas to a series of tunnels that polar

00:12:49.940 bear had fallen into these tunnels are inhabited by goblins and father christmas recounts a law of

00:12:57.380 their race to the children goblins are to us very much as rats are to you only worse because they are

00:13:04.180 very clever and only better because they are in these parts very few long ago we had great trouble with

00:13:11.700 them that was about 1453 and we got the help of the gnomes who were their greatest enemies and cleared them

00:13:19.300 out anyway there was poor old polar bear lost in the dark all among them and all alone until he met

00:13:26.980 mr cave brown cave who lives there the goblins skulk off deeper into the earth at father christmas's

00:13:33.540 approach and polar bear is saved malnourished but otherwise grateful for being rescued the walls also

00:13:41.380 bear crude paintings of long-existent animals such as mammoths and dragons just as dragons covet hoarded

00:13:50.100 gold goblins apparently love mechanical toys so when father christmas returns with polar bear to their

00:13:57.300 home they are aghast to see that all the hornby train sets have been pillaged from their stores but

00:14:03.700 the day is not lost and father christmas calls upon his old alliance with the red gnomes of norway

00:14:10.580 after polar bear smokes the goblins out of their hole the gnomes pursue them with so many problems to

00:14:17.220 overcome there is a terrible rush to be ready for christmas day but with the assistance from the

00:14:23.140 gnome ladies things get back on track and christmas of 1932 is saved if you enjoyed this piece of

00:14:30.660 premium content from the lotus eaters head to our website where you can find more

The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - December 20, 2025

PREVIEW： Chronicles #27 ｜ Letters From Father Christmas

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