Readers like you keep news free for everyone.
More than 5,000 readers have already pitched in to keep free access to The Journal.
For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can help keep paywalls away.
# christmas past
7 lovely Irish Christmas videos worth checking out on the RTÉ Archives
There’s a video of an Irish child in 1967 asking Santa for bullets and a knife.
1. These extremely well mannered kids sharing their Christmas lists.
“What does Santa Claus look like?” “Like me daddy.” Little did she know…
2. If you can overlook Aonghus McAnally grabbing and kissing an innocent woman on the cheek, the interview with Dubliner Brigid Ward talking about selling flowers is quite wholesome.
This is my part of Dublin here, and it’s a part that I’m never going to give up. I only come out on Christmas, that’s all [...] It just reminds me of my childhood, it’s a wonderful thing to relive your childhood. If it’s only once a year, we can all be children.
“I haven’t sold nothing, but that’s besides the point.”
3. These kids from 1967 sharing their Christmas lists with RTÉ’s Frank Hall.
One kid asks for a pair of slippers and a surprise. How simple times were. Although, you’d want to keep a close eye on that youngfella who asked for “bullets… and a knife”.
4. You can watch some Billie Barry kids clack around on the Toy Show in 1981.
So little has changed since 1981. Billie Barry kids still dominate the stage of the Toy Show and still, in 2017, many of the toys do not work when the presenter attempts to demonstrate what they’re supposed to do. These tots are now in their 40s at this stage. You’d wonder if they kept up the dancing.
5. This hilarious little girl that goes on like an aul one.
“What do you know about baby Jesus, Lisa?” To which she knowingly replies “See, at Christmas, you’re supposed to give baby Jesus a love, because it’s his birthday.”
There’s also bonus footage of a cute little ginger boy in a sailor hat who doesn’t really remember the words to Jingle Bells.
6. In complete contrast to 1967′s ‘slippers and a surprise’ boy, we have this little girl showing how the other half lived at Christmas.
This little madam jumps straight into her considerable list of demands.
Dear Santa, I hope you are well. For Christmas, I would like:
- A selection box
- Doll’s clothes
- Surprises in boxes
- Telephone set
- And a big teddy bear
When asked what surprises in boxes were, she said “Ah, they’re things in boxes that you don’t know what they are. At the end, however, she says that if she doesn’t get what she asks for she won’t be disappointed, as she’ll “be glad to get any.”
7. This video of Dubliners swimming on Christmas Day with Spongebob music in the background.
It actually looks a lot more appealing than you’d expect.
DailyEdge is on Instagram!
Written by Kelly Earley and posted on DailyEdge.ie
[image alt="" src="http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2017/12/img2-thejournal-672.png" width="600" height="115" credit-url="" credit-source="" credit-via="" credit-via-url="" wp-id="wp-image-3763100" class="alignnone" /end]
