Emma Thompson’s new children’s book stars Sir Henry Cole’s dog Jim
Sir Henry Cole’s story is making a splash in time for the festive season thanks to Dame Emma Thompson’s new children’s book featuring the creator of the Christmas card, and namesake of The Henries greeting card awards.
Already being lauded as a “new classic” the heart-warming tale Jim’s Spectacular Christmas has been published by Puffin in collaboration with the V&A – which was founded by Sir Henry in 1852 as the Museum Of Manufactures and officially opened by Queen Victoria on its current Kensington site in 1857.
The Oscar-winning actress and screenwriter is currently doing the media rounds publicising her story, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, about the Victorian philanthropist’s little dog who lives in the V&A museum, and based on Sir Henry, who launched the first commercial Christmas card in 1843 – the GCA has more information on its blog – and his real-life pet.
On Tuesday, 1 November, Emma was the star guest on Chris Evans’ Virgin Radio Breakfast Show telling the presenter that she’d just been signing books for Sir Henry’s great-grandchildren, and that she found writing Jim’s Spectacular Christmas “therapeutic” in comparison with her screenplays because “you’re making it as simple as possible but at the same time the language has got to really land, and that’s what takes the time”.
In the 15-minute interview – which can be viewed below – Chris admitted he’d thought the book’s mention of inventing the Christmas card was fiction but Emma exclaimed “he invented the blooming Christmas card” and the presenter said: “Well, somebody had to, it’s like the spoon, somebody had to invent it!”
Emma added: “He had a dog called Jim who went with him everywhere and, because the V&A is loads of different buildings that were built over many decades really, you could walk for miles, and this little dog was sketched by his master Henry Cole, who must have been a very nice man, you can tell by the way in which he drew his dog.”
Sir Henry’s diary entries indicate the fondness he had for his dog, regularly strolling around together with Jim accompanying his owner everywhere around the museum, and including his own sketches of his favourite pooch.
There is a commemorative plaque dedicated to Faithful Dog Jim, alongside one to Sir Henry’s next pet Tycho, set into the wall of what is now the V&A’s John Madejski garden.
After receiving a Jim-shaped Christmas decoration and becoming enraptured by a drawing that Sir Henry had made of his faithful pet, Emma was inspired to pen the tale of the scraggly canine hero, who she fondly describes as having a “gamey whiff”, who wears a monocle and loves reading – but is frightened of poetry!
Publisher Penguin describes the book as: “A Christmas book to treasure, and an adventure filled with high emotion, guilt, redemption, unexpected presents and a life-changing brush with royalty.
“Emma Thompson magically weaves the real-life tale of Jim – beloved dog of Sir Henry Cole who created the first Christmas card – with a fantastically warm and heartfelt Christmas romp, brilliantly illustrated by bestselling illustrator Axel Scheffler.”
Top: Emma Thompson tells Chris Evans the true story of inventing the Christmas card
