The Snowman

It’s 1982, and we’re walking in the air. The Advent Calendar House takes flight for its 7th season as we melt over a British Christmas classic and a personal favorite I wish was more beloved stateside.

Full show notes with links at https://adventcalendar.house/episodes/the-snowman.

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🎙 Guest:

• Adam Parker Sibun from the Merry Britsmas Podcast (@MerryBritsmas).

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

• New theme song! Thanks, Bronwen’s Ghost!

• Merry Britsmas episode on Raymond Briggs.

• The British Film Institute’s Top 100 British TV Programmes of the 20th Century.

• The special’s 3 openings, featuring Briggs, David Bowie, and Mel Smith as Father Christmas.

• The original Snowman original picture book wasn’t a Christmas story.

• Other Briggs works mentioned: Father Christmas, Fungus the Bogeyman, Ethel and Ernest, and When the Wind Blows.

• How The Snowman melted David Bowie’s heart (The Guardian, December 2016).

• Duncan Jones finds his dad’s scarf.

• Video of an owl flying over snow I eerily shared on Facebook the night David Bowie died.

• The Maccabees cover Walking in the Air.

• The Royal Pavilion and Brighton Palace Pier.

• Today’s TV Trope: Polar Bears and Penguins.

• The Snowman in a commercial for Barbour outerwear.

• Irn-Bru soft drink’s parody commercial, and its sequel.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

• 1985 Toys “R” Us Snowman Commercial featuring Aled Jones covering Walking in the Air (sung in the special by Peter Auty).

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The Snowman © 1982 Snowman Enterprises Ltd.

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