Christmas countdown day 6: Father Christmas origin story

Red radical: the tales behind the Santa we see today

Graham Tomlin

Graham is the Director of the Centre for Cultural Witness and a former Bishop of Kensington.

A Lego Stanta figure strolls across a table holding a wrench

Artem Maltsev on Unsplash.

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The Christmas Countdown

It’s the season to be jolly, stressed, and all round Christmassy. On the Seen & Unseen Aloud podcast, we’re here for you with our Aloud Christmas Countdown!

Every day in December, we’ll drop some of the best seasonal content from Seen & Unseen Aloud. From how to survive Christmas, reviews of the best Christmas movies and the origin story of Santa Claus.

For when you’ve got your hands full of mince pies and baubles, but you still want to hear some thoughtful content, subscribe to Seen & Unseen Aloud for the Christmas Countdown.

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Throughout the year, the Seen & Unseen Aloud brings you the week’s best articles, in a short 20 minute podcast episode. Browse the index for episodes from Seen & Unseen Aloud, Re-enchanting and GodPod.

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Podcast

Podcasts

Seen & Unseen Aloud

4 August 2025

1 min read

Portofino, neurodiversity, and McGovern's Unforgivable.

Poverty amid the privileged, the issue of over-diagnosing, and a difficult drama to watch.

Natalie Garrett

Natalie produces and narrates The Seen & Unseen Aloud podcast. She's an Anglican minister and a trained actor.

Portofino harbour.

Peter Thomas, via Unsplash.

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This week, George Pitcher takes us on our tour of the Portofino "bubble"; Henna Cundill has read Suzanne O'Sullivan's book and suggests we don't have an over-diagnosis problem, we have a society problem; and Henry Corbett describes Jimmy McGovern's brave storytelling in Unforgivable and asks whether there is such a thing as an unforgiveable sin.

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Graham Tomlin
Editor-in-Chief

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