Howard Williams, COI
Can we start with a personal reaction, Prime Minister. What does Christmas mean to you, Prime Minister?
Prime Minister
Oh I think it means a whole kaleidoscope of memories, but above all, as an overwhelming impression of family, of warmth, of happiness, of the love of friends, and of just stopping life from its hurly-burly for a moment, and sitting down and enjoying things together.
Howard Williams, COI
Is it for you personally though more of a religious occasion or a family occasion?
Prime Minister
It is both. I remember so well how I used to love the practises of the Christmas Carols we had at school; how I used to love taking part in the Nativity Play; and now how always, I read the lesson at church on Christmas morning; and also the Sundays leading up to it, and all of preparations, you know, all of the anticipation. It is both. But of course, [end p1] it would not be Christmas without the religious side of it, and we must never forget that because it just reminds us that it is not really selfishly to enjoy ourselves and it is not only peace on earth—it is goodwill to men.
Howard Williams, COI
But will this Christmas mean a complete break with affairs of state or will the phone continue to ring?
Prime Minister
Well, I hope it will not continue to ring, although I remember the occasion when the Soviet Union went into Afghanistan, just immediately after Christmas Day; the telephone was ringing, of course, and we had to get together and decide just exactly what to do and what messages to put out, but they do not bother one unless there is something very urgent and, of course, I listen to the radio and watch television just to make certain that there is no terrible tragedy, because sometimes there are. They are bad at any time, but at Christmas-time they are even worse.
Howard Williams, COI
Will you have all your family about you this Christmas? [end p2]
Prime Minister
Yes, it is marvellous. They return from the ends of the earth and they come home and we also have quite a number of friends in on Christmas Eve and then on Christmas Day, because you know, if you have got a big turkey you might just as well have quite a lot of people as a few—it is no more trouble. And then we have, usually, a kind of buffet lunch on Boxing Day, you know, grand eating-up of everything from Christmas.
Howard Williams, COI
Can I ask you, is there a particular time or an element of Christmas which means more to you personally than any other?
Prime Minister
A particular time, a particular element?
Howard Williams, COI
I mean, is there one time over Christmas that you enjoy more than any other?
Prime Minister
Goodness me! Goodness me, what a difficult question! I love … . we have here also a party at No. 10, when everyone who works here—and there are over a hundred people who work here—and everyone who has been working here but has left us in the last year, comes in and everyone who supplies and is always associated with it, so about 200 people, and I think [end p3] carols, Christmas carols, mean a very great deal to me. As I told you, I loved them when we practised them at school, at church, and we always, at this party, although we have a disco and then we have a string quartet because there are some youngsters who like the disco, and that is very noisy so we put them in a room apart and another room has a nice string quartet playing all of the music that we love and that is for us older ones, you know, who do not want our ear-drums split with decibels! And we always have carols. Though you are going to the disco section, to the string quartet, to dance or to talk or to eat, I get everyone together in that large room and we have carols, and always among our number are some who have got good voices and someone who can play a guitar, so we get them together, we get a little choir together, and it is, I think, the singing of carols that really brings home both the feel, the sound, the music, the togetherness and the message, because the carols have the message as well.
Howard Williams, COI
There will, of course, be a lot of people who will not be at home this Christmas. I mean people in the services, people who are working, and I am thinking particularly of those in hospital. Do you have a special message for people in hospital over Christmas?
Prime Minister
I think they will be thinking of the best Christmases they have ever known, just as we shall, because it is not [end p4] specifically … . it is just an atmosphere … it is a feel that stays with you, and usually it is a feel of the happiest times.
But to those who work at Christmas, we are very conscious that without them we could not have our marvellous Christmas—without the nurses, the doctors, the orderlies, the telephonists, people who work on transport, people who sometimes work in hotels, the people who protect us—the police, the armed forces. Without them giving up their Christmas, we could not have ours and we are unbelievably grateful and we hope that their working time is made as happy as it can be, that they have got Christmas trees, they have got crackers, they have got gifts, that they are singing carols, and that they really are, at work, having something of the spirit of Christmas.
Howard Williams, COI
One should not forget, of course, that there are those who, through disability, can never enjoy Christmas as we enjoy it. I am thinking particularly of those who are partially-sighted or who are blind; who cannot see the colour of Christmas as we see it, can they?
Prime Minister
No they cannot and they do indeed miss a lot, but do you know, I sometimes think they are such marvellous people, they see things through the mind's eye. They are sensitive to atmosphere. They can tell a lot through feeling. They [end p5] can tell a lot through tone of voice. They see people, not by their faces, but they see them by their personality. I wonder if they see more fully and more wholly sometimes a personality than we do.
Then of course, there are some who cannot hear the carols because they are deaf, but they can see. But each of them develops their own instinct and each of them has so much to teach us.
So really I want to say thank you for everything you give to us, thank you for teaching us lessons about life and about how to live it to the full.
Howard Williams, COI
Well I know that everyone listening would like to wish you and your family a very happy Christmas and no less importantly, a Happy New Year and a Prosperous one!
Prime Minister
A Happy Christmas to everyone who is listening and we always think specially about the New Year. It does just make you think what life is about and what you would like to try and achieve and as you get older, the Christmases and the New Years come more rapidly, but as you get older, things fall into perspective—you do not go for the artificial things, you know you do not think so much about achieving material things; you think much more that the richness in life really comes from your [end p6] friendships and from your family.
Happy Christmas everyone! Have a wonderful day and a good New Year!