The King of Christmas

It is a frosty winter evening, and the Baron, watching the snow fall through the window, is bored and fretful. It will soon be Christmas, and yet the household is subdued. Even the dogs are dozing. What can he do to cheer up the family and bring excitement into the manor?He is at a loss - until his wife, the Baroness, has an idea: he can appoint a Lord of Misrule; a peasant to be in charge of Christmas revelries.For twelve days, chaotic merriment ensues - schools are closed, wives drink in taverns, priests are dressed in petticoats, monkeys sit at the head of the table and general festive bacchanalia fills the manor - all culminating in a giant, happy feast on Christmas Day.

Carol Ann Duffy lives in Manchester, where she is Professor and Creative Director of the Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her poetry has received many awards, including the Signal Prize for Children's Verse, the Whitbread, Forward and T. S. Eliot Prizes, and the Lannan and E. M. Forster Prize in America. She was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 2009 to 2019. Her many collections include Mean Time, Love Poems and The Bees, which won the Costa Poetry Award. Her writing for children includes Queen Munch and Queen Nibble, The Skipping-Rope Snake and The Tear Thief. She was made a DBE in the 2015 New Year Honours list. In 2021, she was awarded the international lifetime achievement award the Golden Wreath for her achievements in poetry.

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