You know that machine kills you when you turn 30, right?

(Looks down at the crystal on the back of his hand with concern...)

A fun legacy of this duet? If you're ever playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon or a similar celebrity connection game, this links Bing Crosby's 100+ acting credits from the 1930s-1970s to David Bowie's 37 acting credits that go up to 2014. This one scene brings together eight decades of entertainment.

Bing Crosby died a month later. This was among the last things he ever recorded. It aired once in 1977, but was then totally unavailable until Christmas of 1982, when it was released as a UK pop single for Christmas, the last hit of Bing's storied career, and a surprise bestseller for Bowie too.

This was recorded in 1977 as part of a Bing Crosby Christmas television special. After a little preamble, Bing sings the 1941 standard The Little Drummer Boy, while Bowie sings Peace on Earth as a counterpoint, a tune written for the show. This is a duet of 2 musical icons of different generations.

A fun thing about this? My grandfather was a lifelong teetotaler. This photo embarrassed him deeply when we came across it in his album. He tried to convince me he was just holding the bottle for the photo.

"It's okay. There was a war on. You could have a beer with your friends," I told him.

Anyway, thank you again to everyone who has supported this project. I hope you all enjoy the coming weeks with your friends and family, and I look forward to bringing you Season Two in the New Year!

#historicalfiction #audiodrama #podcast

It's early days, of course, but this kind of response has me contemplating the future. Maybe I don't write historical fiction novels anymore. Maybe I write historical fiction audio dramas? That's something to think on for a while...

Let me just say again that I am so pleased with the reception this podcast has already received. I didn't have concrete goals when I started. I set an aspirational one after the first month. I hit it so quickly, I came up with a second one that I have also now comfortably reached ahead of schedule.

I am confident I will be able to stay ahead of things, although I may need to take a longer break before the final season when the time comes. We will cross that bridge when we get to it.

I am going to take a short break now for the holiday season. The trailer for Season Two will publish on Friday, January 9th, with new episodes coming out Mondays after that as usual. I am still editing Season Two at the moment, but I have content scheduled for publication through to February so far.

One post doesn't do it justice. In addition to the two leads, this is the screen debut of Anthony Hopkins as Richard (the future Lionheart) & Timothy Dalton as Philip II, the new King of France, locked in a Cold War with an aging Henry II. There are plots within plots, and everyone gets a monologue!

Just did a little Googling. It looks like they came up with this as part of the annual 'Race for Christmas Number One' contest the UK pop charts do. (You might remember that was a major plot point in the movie Love, Actually?) This was their entry in 2003. They came in as the runner-up that year.