Hello Playmates!
Nobody can accuse this Calendar of not being cutting edge. 'Before your very eyes' here's 'big-hearted' Arthur, born in 1900, with a recording made in 1939 about his meeting a young lad who was sending a letter to Santa Claus asking for his 'soldier daddy' to return safely home at a time when that might have been a precarious hope. When Askey sings of how it reminds him of when he made a similar wish in a 'bygone happy year' you realise he might have been thinking of his own father in 1914-18.
It sort of puts worries about Omicron into perspective.
Askey was a stalwart in British comedy from the 1930's onward and had attained legendary status by his latter years, performing well into the 70's being awarded an OBE in 1969 and progressing to a CBE in 1981
Despite it's age, 'Letter to Santa Claus' is still strangely moving.
Ay-thang-yew! **
(** Younger listeners might need to see Google for some of these references)
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