Ho ho ho! We have a festive cracker of an episode for you this month (literally), as Mike and Will explore Sir Andrew Caldecott’s M.R. James-inspired tale, ‘Christmas Re-union‘. A big thank you to Tony Mears, who provided the readings for this episode. Check out his bands new track ‘A Hypothermia Banquet‘ on Bandcamp! Story notes: ‘Christmas Re-union’ by Sir Andrew Caldecott (gutenberg.net.au) The collection in which this story appears can be read online at Project Gutenberg Australia. Sir Andrew Caldecott (wikipedia) Andrew Caldecott was a big cheese in the Colonial Office for much of this life, only starting to publish ghost stories after he retired. You can find out more about his career at britishempire.co.uk. Stories I Have Tried to Write by M.R. James (mrjamespodcast.com) Not familiar with the M.R. James essay from which Caldecott took his inspiration for this story? We put out a full reading of it back in 2011 which you can listen to online! Ghost story reviews: Not Exactly Ghosts (Tychy) An interesting review and commentary on the volume in which this story appears. Christmas Re-union (Anibalan.com) An essay on this story, and on Sir Andrew Caldecott in general. The Great Smog of London (wikipedia) The characters express a lot of concern about fog in this story. When you read about the Great Smog of December 1952 you will understand why! Sir Roger de Coverley (wikipedia) This famous country dance, mentioned in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, also makes an appearance in this story.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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