0:00:00 > 0:00:00- 888
0:00:00 > 0:00:02- 888- - 888
0:00:07 > 0:00:09- 888
0:00:14 > 0:00:16- 888
0:00:21 > 0:00:23- 888
0:00:28 > 0:00:30- 888
0:00:38 > 0:00:40- A CHILD'S CHRISTMAS IN WALES
0:00:41 > 0:00:43- BASED ON THE BOOK BY DYLAN THOMAS
0:00:48 > 0:00:50- VOICED BY
0:01:04 > 0:01:07- There's nothing like a walk - on the beach on a Christmas morning.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11- I've come nearly every year - since I was your age.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15- Get them, Sammy! Look at him, - he's enjoying himself!
0:01:18 > 0:01:19- All those years ago?
0:01:19 > 0:01:20- All those years ago?- - Yes.
0:01:20 > 0:01:20- Yes.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24- When you were a boy, - what was Christmas like?
0:01:29 > 0:01:31- It snowed.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34- One Christmas - was so much like another...
0:01:34 > 0:01:36- ..that I can never remember...
0:01:37 > 0:01:40- ..whether it snowed for six days - and six nights when I was 12...
0:01:40 > 0:01:44- ..or whether it snowed for twelve - days and twelve nights when I was 6.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54- What do you remember?
0:01:54 > 0:01:57- I remember - Mrs Prothero and the firemen.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04- It snowed last year, too. - I made a snowman.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09- When my brother knocked it down, - I knocked him down, too.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12- But it wasn't the same snow.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19- Not the same snow? Tell me about - Mrs Prothero and the firemen, then.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22- It was on the afternoon - of Christmas Eve.
0:02:22 > 0:02:27- I was in Mrs Prothero's garden - waiting for cats with her son Jim.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36- It was snowing. - It was always snowing at Christmas.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39- December, in my memory, - is white as Lapland...
0:02:39 > 0:02:42- ..though there were no reindeers. - But there were cats.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45- Our hands wrapped in socks...
0:02:46 > 0:02:51- ..we waited to snowball the cats.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55- Sleek and long as jaguars - and horrible-whiskered...
0:02:55 > 0:02:57- ..spitting and snarling...
0:02:57 > 0:03:00- ..they would slink and sidle - over the white back-garden walls.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05- Jim and I, fur-capped and moccasined - trappers from Hudson Bay...
0:03:05 > 0:03:07- ..off Mumbles Road...
0:03:07 > 0:03:11- ..would hurl our deadly snowballs - at the green of our eyes.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16- The wise cats never appeared.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19- We were so still, - Eskimo-footed arctic marksmen...
0:03:20 > 0:03:22- ..in the muffling silence - of the eternal snow.
0:03:23 > 0:03:24- Eternal snow?
0:03:24 > 0:03:25- Eternal snow?- - Eternal, ever since Wednesday...
0:03:27 > 0:03:30- ..that we never heard - Mrs Prothero's first cry...
0:03:30 > 0:03:32- ..from her igloo - at the bottom of the garden.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34- Fire! Fire! Fire!
0:03:35 > 0:03:37- But soon the voice grew louder.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40- But soon the voice grew louder.- - Fire! Fire!
0:03:41 > 0:03:45- This was better than all the cats in - Wales standing on the wall in a row.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48- COUGHING
0:03:49 > 0:03:50- Do something!
0:03:51 > 0:03:52- Call the fire brigade!
0:03:53 > 0:03:55- We threw our snowballs - into the smoke.
0:03:55 > 0:04:00- We missed Mr Prothero, and ran out - of the house to the telephone box.
0:04:00 > 0:04:01- Let's call the police as well!
0:04:01 > 0:04:02- Let's call the police as well!- - And the Ambulance.
0:04:02 > 0:04:03- And the Ambulance.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05- And Ernie Jenkins, he likes fires.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13- You didn't call Ernie Jenkins, - did you?
0:04:13 > 0:04:15- We only called the fire brigade.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18- And soon the fire engine came, - and three tall men in helmets...
0:04:19 > 0:04:21- ..brought a hose into the house...
0:04:21 > 0:04:25- ..and Mr Prothero got out just - in time before they turned it on.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32- And when the firemen - turned off the hose...
0:04:32 > 0:04:35- ..and were standing in - the wet, smoky room...
0:04:36 > 0:04:39- ..Jim's Aunt came downstairs - and peered in at them.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43- Jim and I waited, very quietly, - to hear what she would say to them.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46- She said the right thing, always.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50- Would you like anything to read?
0:04:55 > 0:04:58- Mr Prothero only wanted - to read his paper in peace.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02- Nobody could have had - a noisier Christmas Eve!
0:05:04 > 0:05:07- You said the snow was different - but it isn't, is it?
0:05:07 > 0:05:09- The snow is just the same.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11- The snow is just the same.- - It seems different to me.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14- I don't think so.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23- Were there postmen then, too?
0:05:24 > 0:05:26- With sprinkling eyes - and wind-cherried noses!
0:05:26 > 0:05:29- We lock Sammy in - when the postman comes!
0:07:23 > 0:07:27- Father Christmas brings me my - presents. At least I think he does.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29- I've never seen him doing it.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32- Was there a Father Christmas - when you were a boy?
0:07:32 > 0:07:36- On Christmas Eve I hung, - at the foot of my bed...
0:07:36 > 0:07:39- ..Bessie Bunter's black stocking.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43- I always said I would stay awake - all the moonlit, snowlit night...
0:07:44 > 0:07:46- ..to hear - the roof-alighting reindeer...
0:07:46 > 0:07:49- ..and see the hollied boot - descend through soot.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54- But soon the sand of the snow - drifted into my eyes.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58- And though I stared towards the fire - and around the flickering room...
0:07:58 > 0:08:01- ..where the black - sack-like stocking hung...
0:08:02 > 0:08:04- ..I was asleep before - the chimney trembled...
0:08:04 > 0:08:07- ..and the room - was red and white with Christmas.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13- But in the morning, though no - snow melted on the bedroom floor...
0:08:14 > 0:08:16- ..the stocking bulged and brimmed.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21- Hmm, so you never saw him either.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24- Were there sweets, - like in my stocking?
0:08:24 > 0:08:26- Of course there were sweets.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30- Hardboileds, toffee, - fudge and allsorts...
0:08:30 > 0:08:33- ..crunches, cracknels, humbugs, - marzipan, sugar cigarettes...
0:08:34 > 0:08:36- ..and butterwelsh for the Welsh.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38- And troops of bright tin soldiers!
0:08:39 > 0:08:42- If they could not fight, - they could always run.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44- And Snakes-and-Families - and Happy Ladders.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48- And a whistle to make the dogs bark - to wake up the old man next door...
0:08:48 > 0:08:51- ..and make him beat on the wall - to shake our picture off the wall!
0:08:53 > 0:08:57- Quiet, Sammy! - It's not you they were whistling at!
0:08:57 > 0:08:59- Get back to the presents.
0:08:59 > 0:08:59- Get back to the presents.- - There were the useful presents.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01- There were the useful presents.
0:09:01 > 0:09:02- Like mobile phones?
0:09:02 > 0:09:05- Engulfing mufflers - of old coaching days...
0:09:05 > 0:09:08- ..and mittens made - for giant sloths, zebra scarves...
0:09:09 > 0:09:12- ..blinding tam-o'-shanters - like patchwork tea cosies...
0:09:12 > 0:09:14- ..and bunny-suited busbies...
0:09:15 > 0:09:18- ..and balaclavas for victims - of head-shrinking tribes.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23- And books that told me everything - about the wasp, except why.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32- Go on to the useless presents.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35- Bags of moist - and many-coloured jelly babies...
0:09:36 > 0:09:39- ..and a folded flag and a false nose - and a tram-conductor's cap...
0:09:39 > 0:09:42- ..and a machine that punched - tickets, but never a catapult.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46- Once by mistake, a little hatchet...
0:09:46 > 0:09:50- ..and a celluloid duck - that made a most unducklike sound.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55- And a painting book.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58- I could make the grass, the trees, - the sea, any colour I pleased.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03- Still the dazzling sky-blue sheep - are grazing in the red field...
0:10:03 > 0:10:06- ..under the rainbow-billed - and pea-green birds.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10- Toys, clothes, books.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13- I get presents like those. - What then?
0:10:15 > 0:10:18- Then I would scour the town - for news of the little world.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29- Not many in those mornings - trod the piling streets.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32- Men and women - scooping back from chapel...
0:10:32 > 0:10:36- ..with red noses and wind-bussed - cheeks, huddling against the snow.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40- An old man always, fawn-bowlered, - with spats of snow...
0:10:40 > 0:10:44- ..would take his constitutional to - the white bowling green and back...
0:10:44 > 0:10:47- ..as he would take it wet or fire - on Christmas Day or Doomsday.
0:10:48 > 0:10:49- THUNDER
0:11:18 > 0:11:23- Sometimes two hale young men, - with big pipes blazing...
0:11:23 > 0:11:25- ..no overcoats - and wind-blown scarves...
0:11:25 > 0:11:28- ..would trudge, unspeaking, - down to the forlorn sea...
0:11:29 > 0:11:32- ..to work up an appetite, - to blow away the fumes, who knows...
0:11:33 > 0:11:36- ..to walk into the waves - until nothing of them was left...
0:11:36 > 0:11:39- ..but the two curling smoke clouds - of their inextinguishable briars.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43- Mmm! Lovely!
0:11:44 > 0:11:48- Or you took out a sugar cigarette - and put it in your mouth...
0:11:48 > 0:11:53- ..and waited hours for an old lady - to scold you for smoking...
0:11:53 > 0:11:59- ..and then, - with a smirk, you ate it.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10- Why didn't you go home - for Christmas dinner?
0:12:10 > 0:12:14- Oh, but I did, I always did. - I would be slap-dashing home...
0:12:14 > 0:12:17- ..the gravy smell - of the dinner of others...
0:12:17 > 0:12:20- ..the bird smell, the brandy, - the pudding and mince...
0:12:21 > 0:12:24- ..weaving up my nostrils, when - out came a boy the spit of myself...
0:12:25 > 0:12:27- ..with a pink-tipped cigarette...
0:12:27 > 0:12:30- ..and the violet past of a - black eye, leering all to himself.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35- I hated him on sight, and was about - to put the dog-whistle to my lips...
0:12:35 > 0:12:39- ..and blow him off the face - of Christmas when suddenly he...
0:12:39 > 0:12:40- WHISTLE
0:12:41 > 0:12:42- SHOUTS
0:12:51 > 0:12:53- There's a boy like that - in my school.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57- There's no doing anything with them. - What did you have for dinner?
0:12:57 > 0:12:59- Turkey, and blazing pudding.
0:13:00 > 0:13:00- Was it nice?
0:13:00 > 0:13:02- Was it nice?- - It was not made on earth.
0:13:02 > 0:13:02- It was not made on earth.
0:13:02 > 0:13:03- Mmm!
0:13:07 > 0:13:11- Look at me, Sammy! - I'm a bird, I'm flying!
0:13:17 > 0:13:19- SAMMY HOWLS
0:13:30 > 0:13:32- What is it, Sammy? - What've you found?
0:13:37 > 0:13:40- All but one of his fires out.
0:13:47 > 0:13:48- Come on Sammy.
0:14:05 > 0:14:06- Whey-hey!
0:14:07 > 0:14:11- And it's Number 8! Number 8 - has the ball and he's free!
0:14:11 > 0:14:13- I want it back! It's my ball!
0:14:14 > 0:14:17- A useless pair of big boyos, - that's all you are!
0:14:18 > 0:14:21- Get the chairs down - from the box room now!
0:14:22 > 0:14:25- There were uncles too, then, - just like in our house.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28- There are always uncles - at Christmas. The same uncles.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45- Not you! You can stay here!
0:14:58 > 0:15:00- You don't want to eat those, Sammy!
0:15:01 > 0:15:03- He'll be in trouble - when they come back!
0:15:05 > 0:15:07- Here's a Christmas toffee for you.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10- It's got fluff stuck - all over it, mind.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16- I think I've got - another one somewhere. What's this?
0:15:21 > 0:15:24- Look, Sammy! - It warmed up again in my pocket!
0:15:24 > 0:15:26- It's a miracle, a Christmas miracle!
0:15:34 > 0:15:36- What did you do after dinner?
0:15:37 > 0:15:41- I would go out into the white world, - to call on Jim and Dan and Jack...
0:15:41 > 0:15:44- ..and to pad - through the still streets...
0:15:45 > 0:15:48- ..leaving huge deep footprints - on the hidden pavements.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51- I bet people will think - there's been hippos here!
0:15:55 > 0:15:58- What would you do if you - saw a hippo coming down our street?
0:15:58 > 0:16:03- I'd throw him over the fence - and roll him down the hill!
0:16:03 > 0:16:05- Then I'd tickle him under the ear.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08- What if there were two hippos?
0:16:09 > 0:16:11- No, no, no!
0:16:25 > 0:16:27- BOYS LAUGH
0:16:28 > 0:16:31- Let's post Mr Daniel a snowball.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34- Let's write things in the snow.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37- Let's write, "Mr Daniel looks - like a spaniel all over his lawn!"
0:16:42 > 0:16:44- HE BARKS
0:16:44 > 0:16:46- BOYS LAUGH
0:16:52 > 0:16:56- Now we were snow-blind travellers - lost on the north hills.
0:16:56 > 0:17:01- Dogs with flasks round their necks - ambled and shambled up, baying.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04- We returned home - through the poor streets...
0:17:04 > 0:17:08- ..where only a few children fumbled - with bare red fingers in the snow...
0:17:08 > 0:17:12- ..and cat-called after us, - their voices fading away...
0:17:12 > 0:17:15- ..as we trudged uphill, - into the cries of the dock birds...
0:17:15 > 0:17:19- ..and the hooting of ships - out in the whirling bay.
0:17:21 > 0:17:22- DOG BARKS
0:17:24 > 0:17:26- Can the fishes see it's snowing?
0:17:28 > 0:17:29- Eh?
0:17:32 > 0:17:33- BOYS SCREAM
0:17:48 > 0:17:50- # You may marvel at our size
0:17:51 > 0:17:53- # Great big bottoms, enormous thighs
0:17:55 > 0:17:57- # On the land we're quite unsteady
0:17:58 > 0:18:00- # Underwater, - we are ready to win the hippo race!
0:18:00 > 0:18:03- # We are hunky, we are strong
0:18:03 > 0:18:07- # A swimming hippo can't go wrong
0:18:07 > 0:18:10- # Bang goes the pufferfish, - and we're off with just one wish
0:18:10 > 0:18:12- # To win the hippo race!
0:18:13 > 0:18:16- # Listen how the fans - are cheering all along the way
0:18:16 > 0:18:19- # Screaming, shouting - flouting, pouting
0:18:19 > 0:18:22- # The crowd leaps up and cheers
0:18:22 > 0:18:24- # As the hippo race appears
0:18:26 > 0:18:28- # Crack that whip - we'll run with all our might
0:18:28 > 0:18:32- # We'll let rip - and soon be out of sight
0:18:35 > 0:18:37- # Salty pirates like to think
0:18:37 > 0:18:41- # Bad behaviour will make us sink
0:18:41 > 0:18:45- # Look around and you might find - the Pirate King is right behind
0:18:45 > 0:18:47- # To win the hippo race! #
0:19:08 > 0:19:10- BELL TOLLS
0:19:13 > 0:19:15- # Though they put up quite a fight
0:19:15 > 0:19:18- # They haven't got the dynamite
0:19:21 > 0:19:24- # You may marvel at our size
0:19:24 > 0:19:27- # Great big bottoms, enormous thighs
0:19:28 > 0:19:33- # Don't give up, almost there - Hold on tight, say a prayer
0:19:34 > 0:19:38- # We'll win the hippo race!
0:19:40 > 0:19:44- # The great big hippo race! #
0:19:46 > 0:19:49- Go on then, what happened next?
0:19:49 > 0:19:51- I can't remember.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54- You must be able - to remember something like that!
0:19:54 > 0:19:56- Well, I can't at the moment.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59- Well, it was only a story after all.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04- Hippos don't live in Wales, - except in a zoo. And then tea next?
0:20:05 > 0:20:09- And then, at tea, the recovered - uncles would be jolly...
0:20:09 > 0:20:13- ..and the iced cake loomed - on the table like a marble grave.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15- Mistletoe hung - from the gas brackets.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18- There was sherry - and walnuts and bottled beer...
0:20:19 > 0:20:21- ..and crackers by the dessertspoons.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24- Cats in their fur-abouts - watched the fires.
0:20:24 > 0:20:29- The high-heaped fire spat, ready for - the chestnuts and mulling pokers.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33- I remember tall tales by the fire...
0:20:33 > 0:20:36- ..as the gaslight - bubbled like a diver.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39- Ghosts whooed like owls - in the long nights...
0:20:40 > 0:20:42- ..when I dared not - look over my shoulder.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45- Animals lurked in the cubby-hole - under the stairs...
0:20:45 > 0:20:48- ..and the gas meter ticked.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55- And I remember - that we went singing carols once...
0:20:56 > 0:20:59- Let's go to the big house? - We'll get plenty of money there!
0:21:21 > 0:21:23- OWL HOOTS
0:21:24 > 0:21:25- GASPS
0:21:29 > 0:21:31- SHOUTS
0:21:41 > 0:21:43- Come on, then.
0:21:46 > 0:21:47- GIGGLES
0:21:57 > 0:21:58- SHOUTS
0:22:09 > 0:22:10- SHOUTS
0:22:19 > 0:22:21- Shall we sing Away In A Manger?
0:22:21 > 0:22:25- No, O Come, All Ye Faithful. - After three.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27- One, two, three.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31- # O come, all ye faithful
0:22:31 > 0:22:33- # Joyful and triumphant
0:22:34 > 0:22:39- # O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem
0:22:40 > 0:22:42- # Come and behold him
0:22:43 > 0:22:46- # Born the King of angels
0:22:46 > 0:22:48- # O come let us adore him #
0:22:48 > 0:22:48- # O come let us adore him #- - SCREAMS
0:22:48 > 0:22:49- SCREAMS
0:22:58 > 0:23:00- That's odd!
0:23:01 > 0:23:03- Perhaps it was a ghost, mmm?
0:23:06 > 0:23:08- Perhaps it was a ghost.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11- Perhaps it was trolls.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17- Let's go in and see - if there's any jelly left.
0:23:19 > 0:23:20- CAT MEOWS
0:23:24 > 0:23:26- CAT MEOWS
0:23:26 > 0:23:29- There was a house like that - near us once.
0:23:30 > 0:23:32- Sometimes you could hear music - coming out of it.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35- It was ghosts playing - Ryan James said...
0:23:35 > 0:23:37- ..and he knows because - his Dad works for the council.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40- They knocked it down - and built houses there.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43- So the ghosts all had to move, - and the music ended.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46- We always had music - on Christmas night.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49- An uncle played the fiddle, - a cousin sang Calon Lan...
0:23:50 > 0:23:53- ..and another uncle - sang Bugail Aberdyfi.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56- Auntie Hannah, - who had got onto the parsnip wine...
0:23:56 > 0:24:00- ..sang that her heart was like - a bird's nest. Everybody laughed.
0:24:09 > 0:24:10- And then what happened?
0:24:11 > 0:24:13- And then, I went to bed.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15- It all sounds like - an ordinary Christmas.
0:24:16 > 0:24:17- It was.
0:24:18 > 0:24:19- Bedtime!
0:24:29 > 0:24:32- But I still don't think - the snow was different.
0:24:33 > 0:24:34- Oh, but it was!
0:24:34 > 0:24:35- Oh, but it was!- - How could snow be different then?
0:24:35 > 0:24:36- How could snow be different then?
0:24:36 > 0:24:39- Hush, I'll show you later.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46- # It's late in the evening
0:24:47 > 0:24:50- # My family's around
0:24:50 > 0:24:53- # I look out of my window
0:24:54 > 0:24:57- # There isn't a sound
0:24:58 > 0:25:00- # The feeling inside me
0:25:01 > 0:25:04- # As I snuggle up tight
0:25:05 > 0:25:08- # Is happy and cosy
0:25:08 > 0:25:10- # On Christmas night
0:25:12 > 0:25:16- # And I dream of your stories
0:25:16 > 0:25:19- # Of magical joy
0:25:21 > 0:25:25- # Of Christmas - when you were a little boy
0:25:26 > 0:25:29- # We walked in the country
0:25:30 > 0:25:32- # And down to the sea
0:25:33 > 0:25:36- # We walked in the mountains
0:25:37 > 0:25:40- # Just you and me
0:25:41 > 0:25:44- # Now morning is near
0:25:44 > 0:25:47- # And you have to go
0:25:48 > 0:25:51- # But I'll think of your stories
0:25:52 > 0:26:00- # When you have to go #
0:26:05 > 0:26:07- S4C Subtitles by GWEAD
0:26:07 > 0:26:08- .