A Very British Christmas cover art

A Very British Christmas

Twelve Days of Discomfort and Joy

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

A Very British Christmas

By: Rhodri Marsden
Narrated by: Rhodri Marsden, Helen Keeley, Paul Tyreman
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

 A twelve-stage sleigh ride through the best, worst, strangest and funniest parts of Christmas.

With cultural icons saluted, national habits dissected and personal reminiscences from those who’ve eaten all the mince pies and lived to tell the tale.

The essential Christmas stocking filler for anyone who’s ever spent their christmas on a deflating air bed in their parents’ spare room, wedged up against the washing machine come Christmas Eve and wondering why this Christmas, just like every year, doesn’t look like the ones on the telly.

©2017 Rhodri Marsden (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers Customs & Traditions Dysfunctional Families Dysfunctional relationship Parenting & Families Relationships Social Sciences Winter Christmas Tradition Comedy

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Hark! cover art
Christmas Past cover art
The Twelve Dels of Christmas cover art
Sherlock Holmes: The Complete BBC Collection cover art
Watching Neighbours Twice a Day... cover art
An Equal Stillness cover art
Miss Marley cover art
The Mountain in My Shoe cover art
A Normal Family cover art
The Year of Living Danishly cover art
Grumpy Old Men cover art
The Time Bubble cover art
Little Me cover art
The Diary of Two Nobodies cover art
Thanks for Nothing cover art
The Christmas Holiday cover art

Critic reviews

"Funny, touching and ludicrously British." (India Knight)
All stars
Most relevant  
Fabulous! Laugh out loud in parts. Recommend to Scrooges and Santas alike. The author/narrator is so droll and the anecdotes are extremely familiar and funny.

Hilarious

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A Wonderful book which is now one of my 'Every December' listens whilst making food and decorating the tree. Rhodri has a great turn of phrase and a voice that delivers each of them beautifully. I loved it.

An Excellent Listen On The Run Up To Christmas !

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
lots of laugh out loud moments we can all relate to - very British and very funny

Great fun

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is just the sort of thing I enjoy listening to in the run up to Christmas. It walks the line between sweet and cynical expertly and will be enjoyed if you become giddy with excitement before the first of December. If on the other hand you don’t quite get Christmas it may provide some solace as you hear the tales of others who feel the same way. But then, if you’re such a person you’re unlikely to be reading a review of a book called ‘A very British Christmas’ so you probably won’t see this.

Jolly bite sized Christmas nuggets

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
really enjoyed listing to it! puts you in the mood for Christmas, I listened whilst doing my Christmas shopping

Great

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Written in 2016 this is now rather out of date when it’s presented as about the modern British Christmas. Certain bits grate on a modern audience like the bit where he describes the time in history where Christmas was cancelled and it was against the law to gather in a church and for the clergyman to preach to his congregation , this he assures us is unthinkable in this day and age ! Also the author clearly prefers to concentrate on the dreadful Christmas’s people have had, not sure if this is to make people feel better about their awful Christmas’s , but it does make you wonder if this was the right person. To choose to write this particular book . It certainly failed to put me in the festive spirit.

Rather downbeat and depressing take on Christmas

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Good enough but somewhat miserabilist overall. Tone was more matter of fact depressing than funny. To each his own, I guess.

Tidings of comfort and joy - not quite...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
loved this book, funny and entertaining. Will listen to it again and highly recommend it.

brilliant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved this book and I recommend reading it. It made me laugh out loud a whole bunch of times. It has chapters on the history of Chrimbo-ness, lots of British traditions as well as funny stories from actual people. I think I’ll read it every year in late November to get me in the Christmas spirit. Thank you Rhodri!

Marvellous Merry Entertainment

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.