49 Fun Facts About A Christmas Carol

What is the name of Scrooge's deceased business partner in A Christmas Carol?

Jacob Marley, Scrooge's late partner, returns as a ghost on Christmas Eve to warn him that three spirits will visit, offering him a chance to escape Marley's fate.

What is Scrooge's famous catchphrase expressing his disdain for Christmas?

He first says it when his nephew bursts into the counting-house full of good cheer. "Humbug" meant a fraud or hoax, and the retort has since entered the language.

How many brothers does the Ghost of Christmas Present say he has?

'More than eighteen hundred,' the Ghost answers, one brother for every Christmas since the first; each spirit lives a single day, and this one ages visibly and dies at midnight.

How much does Scrooge pay Bob Cratchit a week?

Dickens jokes that Bob had "but fifteen 'Bob' a-week himself" — a bob being slang for a shilling — and on that he keeps a wife and six children.

What are Tiny Tim's famous last words in the story?

'God bless us, every one!' is Tiny Tim's toast round the Cratchit fire on Christmas Day, and Dickens makes it the closing line of the whole book.

Who wrote A Christmas Carol?

Charles Dickens composed much of it on night-time walks of fifteen to twenty miles around London, telling a friend he 'wept and laughed and wept again' over it.

What type of literary work is A Christmas Carol?

A novella: at roughly 28,000 words it sits between a short story and a novel. Its full title is A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas.

In A Christmas Carol, what is the name of Scrooge's cheerful nephew, who invites him to Christmas dinner every year?

Fred, the only child of Scrooge's late sister, keeps inviting his uncle to Christmas dinner despite constant rejection and toasts him anyway.

Sales of which Dickens novel were slumping, deepening his money troubles, when he began A Christmas Carol?

Martin Chuzzlewit's monthly numbers were selling poorly and Chapman & Hall threatened to cut Dickens's income by £50, so he financed the Carol's production himself to keep the profits.

What does Scrooge buy for the Cratchit family after his transformation?

Scrooge sends the prize turkey, 'twice the size of Tiny Tim', anonymously by cab from the poulterer's; the Cratchits had been making do with a goose.

What is wrong with Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol?

He walks with a crutch and wears an iron frame on his limbs; Dickens never names the illness, only that the boy will die unless the future changes.

What does Marley's ghost wear when he appears to Scrooge?

The chain is wound round him "like a tail" and made of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers and steel purses — every link forged, he says, by his own greed in life.

In what year was A Christmas Carol first published?

Chapman & Hall published it on 19 December 1843; the first run of 6,000 copies sold out by Christmas Eve and thirteen editions had appeared by the end of 1844.

What are the chapters of A Christmas Carol called?

The five chapters are called "staves," a musical term for the lines on which notes are written. This fits the musical metaphor of the title — a "carol" being a song. The staves are titled: Marley's Ghost, The First of the Three Spirits, The Second of the Three Spirits, The Last of the Spirits, and The End of It.

What does the Ghost of Christmas Present show Scrooge beneath his robe?

Two children, Ignorance and Want, cling to the spirit's legs; the Ghost tells Scrooge to beware the boy above all, for on his brow is written Doom.

At what hour does Marley's ghost say the first of the three spirits will come?

Marley says the first spirit will come at one o'clock, 'when the bell tolls One'; the three visits, promised on successive nights, in fact all arrive in one night.

What is the name of Scrooge's former employer who threw generous Christmas parties?

Mr. Fezziwig was Scrooge's kind and jovial employer when Scrooge was a young apprentice. The Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge a memory of Fezziwig's legendary Christmas party, reminding him that generosity and joy once mattered to him.

What is the name of Scrooge's sister who is shown by the Ghost of Christmas Past?

Little Fan comes to fetch him home from boarding school and is described as having "a large heart". She died young, leaving one child — the nephew who keeps inviting Scrooge to dinner.

What is the name of the woman who was once engaged to Scrooge?

Belle was Scrooge's fiancee who broke off their engagement because his love of money had replaced his love for her. The Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge this painful memory, revealing how his greed cost him happiness.

What is Scrooge's first name?

Ebenezer is a Hebrew name meaning 'stone of help', a memorial stone Samuel raised in the Bible; 'scrooge' has since become a common noun for a miser.

Which actor played Scrooge in the classic 1951 black-and-white film adaptation?

Alastair Sim starred in the 1951 British film, titled Scrooge in the UK and released as A Christmas Carol in the US; his performance is widely regarded as the definitive screen Scrooge.

In The Muppet Christmas Carol, which Muppet plays Scrooge's humble clerk Bob Cratchit?

Kermit the Frog, with Miss Piggy as Mrs. Cratchit and Robin the Frog as Tiny Tim; the human Scrooge insisted on playing every scene straight.

Who played Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol?

Michael Caine said he would play it 'like I'm working with the Royal Shakespeare Company'; David Hemmings, Ron Moody and George Carlin had been considered.

Which Muppet character serves as the narrator in The Muppet Christmas Carol?

Gonzo narrates in the role of the author himself, with Rizzo the Rat as a Greek chorus. Brian Henson said Gonzo was picked because he was the least likely choice to play the part.

In the 1988 film Scrooged, Bill Murray plays a modern-day Scrooge who works as what?

Murray's Frank Cross is president of the IBC television network, staging a live broadcast of A Christmas Carol when the ghosts arrive; Karen Allen plays his lost love Claire.

Which actor starred as Scrooge in the faithful 1984 TV film of A Christmas Carol, shot in Shrewsbury?

George C. Scott; director Clive Donner had edited the 1951 British film, and David Warner plays Bob Cratchit.

What technology was used to create the 2009 Disney film A Christmas Carol starring Jim Carrey?

Motion capture: Robert Zemeckis had used the same performance-capture technique on The Polar Express and Beowulf, and Jim Carrey plays Scrooge at every age plus the three Christmas ghosts.

Which actor toured a one-man stage version of A Christmas Carol, playing every part, before a 1999 TV film?

Patrick Stewart played all forty-odd characters himself on Broadway and in London; the 1999 TNT film earned him a Screen Actors Guild nomination.

How long did it take Dickens to write A Christmas Carol?

Six weeks: Dickens began in October 1843 and finished the manuscript in early December, in time for publication on 19 December, composing much of it on long night walks.

What was Dickens' primary motivation for writing A Christmas Carol?

To protest child poverty: a tour of Cornish tin mines and a visit to a ragged school for London's street children left Dickens outraged, and he judged a story would hit harder than a pamphlet.

How does the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come typically appear?

A silent, hooded phantom that never speaks and answers only by pointing; Scrooge admits he fears it more than any spectre he has seen.

How does the Ghost of Christmas Present appear to Scrooge?

A giant in a green robe bordered with white fur, he sits on a throne of turkeys, geese, puddings and punch and carries a torch shaped like a horn of plenty.

What famous opening line begins A Christmas Carol?

'Marley was dead: to begin with', and Dickens hammers the point - 'dead as a door-nail' - because nothing wonderful can come of the story unless the reader is certain of it.

What institution does Scrooge suggest the poor should go to when asked for charitable donations?

When charity collectors ask Scrooge for a donation, he asks whether prisons and workhouses are still in operation, and says the poor should go there. This reflects Dickens' criticism of the Victorian attitude that punitive institutions were sufficient charity for the destitute.

How many years has Marley been dead when his ghost visits Scrooge?

Scrooge tells the charity collectors that Marley died seven years ago "this very night" — so the ghost returns on the exact anniversary of his death.

Scrooge's line that the poor should "decrease the surplus population" echoes which economist?

Malthus argued population would always outrun food supply, and Dickens loathed the conclusions drawn from him. The Ghost of Christmas Present later throws the exact words back in Scrooge's face.

Which piece of legislation does Scrooge approvingly ask the charity collectors about — "in full vigour, then?"

He means the New Poor Law of 1834, which pushed the destitute into deliberately grim workhouses. Dickens attacked it in Oliver Twist too, and its logic is exactly what Scrooge's conversion rejects.

What happens to Scrooge's belongings in the vision shown by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come?

They are stolen and sold to a fence: his charwoman, laundress and the undertaker's man haggle over his bed-curtains, blankets and burial shirt at old Joe's rag-and-bone shop.

Who illustrated the first edition of A Christmas Carol?

John Leech supplied four hand-coloured etchings and four wood engravings for the first edition; the costly colour plates were one reason Dickens's profits from it were so small.

What was the cover price of the first edition of A Christmas Carol?

Five shillings: Dickens insisted on gilt edges, coloured plates and red cloth, so despite the sell-out the first edition earned him only £230 instead of the £1,000 he expected.

How many times did Dickens publicly perform A Christmas Carol over his career?

About 127: Dickens first read it publicly in Birmingham in December 1853, with cheap tickets reserved for working people, and kept it in his repertoire until his farewell reading in March 1870.

Which two-word greeting, first recorded in a 1534 letter, did Dickens's A Christmas Carol popularise among Victorians?

Merry Christmas: the greeting appears in a 1534 letter from Bishop John Fisher, and the Carol's huge popularity fixed it as the standard Victorian Christmas wish.

Which fellow apprentice at Fezziwig's does Scrooge name to the Ghost of Christmas Past?

Dick Wilkins was Scrooge's fellow apprentice at Fezziwig's; seeing him again, Scrooge says 'he was very much attached to me, was Dick. Poor Dick! Dear, dear!'

What was the working title of the pamphlet Dickens planned before writing A Christmas Carol instead?

'An Appeal to the People of England, on behalf of the Poor Man's Child' was the planned pamphlet; a Manchester Athenaeum speech in October 1843 convinced him a story would reach far more people.

Which Disney character plays Jacob Marley's ghost in the 1983 featurette Mickey's Christmas Carol?

Goofy plays Marley's ghost in Mickey's Christmas Carol; Mickey is Bob Cratchit, Jiminy Cricket the Ghost of Christmas Past and Pete the Ghost of Christmas Future, with Scrooge McDuck in the title role.

What legal battle did Dickens fight after A Christmas Carol was published?

In January 1844 Parley's Illuminated Library sold a condensed knock-off for twopence. Dickens sued within two days and won, but the pirates went bankrupt and he was left paying £700 in costs.

In which parlour game at his nephew's party is Scrooge the secret subject, a "disagreeable animal"?

In Yes and No, the guests' questions narrow the animal to one that growls and grunts and lives in London: 'It's your Uncle Scro-o-o-o-oge!' Scrooge enjoys it so much he begs to stay.

What does Scrooge see in his own front-door knocker as he arrives home on the night the story begins?

Marley's face, with 'a dismal light about it, like a bad lobster in a dark cellar', appears in the knocker and then is a knocker again; Scrooge even checks behind the door for the pigtail.

What is Dickens's five-story series, from the Carol to The Haunted Man, known as?

The Christmas Books: A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life and The Haunted Man, published 1843-1848, all conversion tales with a social message.