ATHOL Join the Athol Public Library at 568 Main Street, Athol, on Thursday, Dec. 9, from 6 to 7 p.m., when they present “Bing Crosby: King of the Christmas Crooners.” This free, in-person slideshow lecture on beloved entertainer, Bing Crosby,.
Nicola Benedetti OF course, it is perfectly possible that the prospect of Mrs Brown’s Boys on Christmas day is your idea of hell (it certainly is mine). And as for Gavin and Stacey on Christmas Eve, well, didn’t we watch that last year? The truth is Christmas TV is all well and good, but it’s radio that does all the heavy lifting when it comes to the festive season. It’s the background noise for the present opening and Christmas dinner cock-ups. It can also be relied on offering a menu of familiarity, variety and, yes, let’s just say it, intelligence over the next fortnight.
The best of Christmas radio The audio highlights of the festive season. As someone with a superhuman appetite for Christmas cheer, the first day of December marks the date when I switch over to Classic FM – when the station starts blasting wall-to-wall carols and doesn’t stop until January. Over on BBC Radio 4, the annual
Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College, Cambridge (24 December, 3pm) takes on new significance in a year where traditional local singalongs can’t happen, and will be performed to an empty chapel for the first time. Fortunately, this year’s setlist includes such indisputable bangers as “Sussex Carol”, “Adam Lay Ybounden” and the Darke version of “In the Bleak Midwinter”, as well as the usual favourites. For those who like their festive music a little more jazzy, there’s