Yes indeed..the great book by Charles Dickens was published all those years ago on this very day. What an extraordinary influence it has had ever since. Even to this day it is still the staple diet of Christmas reading and Christmas viewing. We have had every possible variation on the story and as we speak it has currently evolved into the Scrooge Sony TV ads with no less a figure than Derek Jacobi... although, perhaps this would not be regarded as the story's finest hour.
But it nevertheless goes to show how we cannot escape Scrooge. Hollywood loves the story and there have been so many variations. One of the more recent ones was Scrooged with Bill Murray. A miserable cantankerous oul boss suddenly finds himself visited by the three ghosts. It is played for comic appeal and set in modern times, with Murray as the ruthless TV executive, but a very good version which will happily while away a couple of hours.
Heavens! there has even been a musical version, with Albert Finney as I remember...
"Thank you very much, thank you very much
thats the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me!"
sings Scrooge with much snowflake jollity.
No doubt we all have our favourite versions and there have been many as we know.
I dont know if Dickens died a rich man, I suspect he probably didnt, but if he was alive today he would be rolling in royalties. He would be right up there in the earning stakes with...with..with... Carlos Tevez!
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