Simply Stories

Two Short Stories by HH Munro, aka Saki

In the Reticence of Lady Anne, our hero believes he is being treated to the silent treatment from his haughty and disapproving wife, as he tries to recover her good graces. 

InThe Blood Feud at Toad Hall, the country spat that ensues between the garden lover and the neighbour poultry owner.  This has nothing on Romeo and Juliet...

Diary of a Nobody
A Popular Victorian Comedy by George and Weedon Grossmith

A Victorian comedy detailing the slow derailment of a London clerk and his wife’s move to the country.  This dry wit was very popular in its day! Getting to grips with the remodelling of the house, working with the new sometimes drunk tradesmen – all good fun!  

“He said he wouldn’t stay, as he didn’t care much for the smell of the paint, and fell over the scraper as he went out...

The classic Christmas Poem by Clement Clark Moore.  

Told around log fires to children of all ages for decades.  Now re-told with gusto by Robin Coles, bringing to bear the decades he has told the story himself.  Merry Christmas to all from Simply Stories. And the best of New Years.   

“When what to my wondering eyes did appear,  
But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer,  
With a little old driver so lively and quick,  
I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick...

Dickens: A Christmas Carol Complete 
The timeless and much loved Victorian Christmas Ghost Story recounting an avaricious man, doomed to an afterlife in perpetual misery, being given a second chance to consider his current life.

Visted by 4 ghosts (Christmas quiz question there!), he sees himself as a young lad, how others view him, leading him to a better understanding of the humanity of others.

A wonderful classic that works at any time of year...

A Christmas Ghost Story by Charles Dickens  

The ominous presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come fills Scrooge with terror as he comes face to face with his own mortality and the realisation of how little his death – nay! the rejoicing his death – would impact others based on how he is now.   

“‘Ghost of the Future!’ he exclaimed, ‘I fear you more than any spectre I have seen...

A Christmas Ghost Story by Charles Dickens  

The ominous presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come fills Scrooge with terror as he comes face to face with his own mortality and the realisation of how little his death – nay! the rejoicing his death – would impact others based on how he is now.

“‘Ghost of the Future!’ he exclaimed, ‘I fear you more than any spectre I have seen...

A Christmas Ghost Story by Charles Dickens

Scrooge awakes to the bright light of the second of his allocated ghostly visits, the Ghost of Christmas present.  Through travels with the Spirit, he visits the house of his clerk, Bob Cratchit, his nephew, and shown how Christmas is celebrated in all places, regardless of how remote.   

“"Come in!" exclaimed the Ghost...

A Christmas Ghost Story by Charles Dickens   
For Scrooge, the hauntings have begun, and were not just a product of some bad food. The Ghost of Christmas Past – Scrooge’s past – takes him back through Christmases of long ago with an unexpected impact on Scrooge.   

“The curtains of his bed were drawn aside, I tell you, by a hand. Not the curtains at his feet, nor the curtains at his back, but those to which his face was addressed...

A Christmas Ghost Story by Charles Dickens   

Scrooge, the very definition of avarice and greed, is visited by the ghost of his old business partner, Marley, on Christmas Eve.  Marley warns of impending visitations by 3 ghosts.  The stage is set for a classic haunting tale that no Christmas is complete without...

World War 1 Story by Arthur Machen & World War 1 Poem by Rupert Brooke

 We finish our honouring of soldiers from all wars with the classic story, The Bowmen, written by Arthur Machen. This famous story tells the tale of British soldiers, during World War 1, avoiding certain defeat at the hands of the German army through a mysterious intervention.

This is followed by the wonderful poem by Rupert Brooke, The Soldier...