Ease Reading-Find Your Next Favorite Book

Hot Search

Christmas Crackers

The Illustrated Christmas Cracker

john julius norwich quentin blake

... Show More
For over 30 years, in lieu of Christmas cards, the distinguished historian John Julius Norwich has been sending friends his Christmas Crackers—personal collections of quirky quotes and literary odds and ends. Every decade, these have been collected into an anthology. Now Quentin Blake has made a selection of his favorite pieces, illustrating them in his own inimitable style. From curious dictionary definitions to Benjamin Franklin’s account of inventing bifocals, this cracker is stuffed with surprising, offbeat, often hilarious gems.

64 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1,1980
Series
Christmas Crackers

This edition

Format
64 pages, Hardcover
Published
November 1, 2002 by Transworld Publishers
ISBN
9780385605250
ASIN
0385605250
Language
English

More editions

About the author

Profile Image for john julius norwich

john julius norwich

... Show More
John Julius Norwich was born in London and served in the Royal Navy before receiving a degree in French and Russian at New College, Oxford. After graduation, he joined the Foreign Service and served in Belgrade, Beirut, and as a member of British delegation to the Disarmament Conference in Geneva. In 1954, he inherited the title of Viscount Norwich. In 1964, he resigned from the Foreign Service to become a writer. He was a historian, travel writer, and television personality.

His books included The Normans in the South, A History of Venice, The Italian World, Venice: A Traveller's Companion, 50 Years of Glyndebourne: An Illustrated History, A Short History of Byzantium, Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy, Sicily: An Island at the Crossroads of History, and A History of France. He and H. C. Robbins Landon wrote Five Centuries of Music in Venice.

Norwich was the host of the BBC radio panel game My Word! from 1978 to 1982. He wrote and presented more than 30 television documentaries including Maestro, The Fall of Constantinople, Napoleon's Hundred Days, Cortés and Montezuma, Maximilian of Mexico, The Knights of Malta, The Treasure Houses of Britain, and The Death of the Prince Imperial in the Zulu War.

In 1993, he was appointed CVO for having curated an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum to mark the 40th anniversary of the Queen's accession to the throne. In 2015, he was awarded the Biographers' Club award for his lifetime service to biography. He died on June 1, 2018 at the age of 88.

Readers also enjoyed

Community Reviews

Rating(3.8 / 5.0, 6 votes)
5 stars
2(33%)
4 stars
1(17%)
3 stars
3(50%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
6 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
femhoshi
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
An amusing choice of material, though not the selection I would have made from ‘Christmas Crackers, 1970 – 1979” and “More Christmas Crackers, 1980 – 1989’; but there again, everyone is different.

Did Quentin Blake really choose his favourite ‘crackers’ or those which appealed to him to illustrate. I doubt we’ll ever know. I bought this book (secondhand) for the illustrations, not for the author’s content, and am not disappointed. Compared to “The Twelve Days of Christmas”; Quentin Blake’s illustrations in “The Illustrated…” are more cameo in style; but none the less utterly charming, apt, delightful, and funny.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
bubblelovexD
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
A slight work. An interested reader would be better served getting one of the full Christmas Cracker collections. For the serious fan only.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
PokeL
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
Illustrations are an absolute delight!! Only few stories I found amusing
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
beastboy
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
Pure delight--wonderful snippets of this and that, with marvelous illustrations by the illustrator of the Roald Dahl books. A must-read for anyone who enjoys commonplace books.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Shumi_Reviews
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
When I was sent this book from the publisher I was excited about sharing it with my class of children, this however I found was not possible. The text is way too advanced for them and they didn't understand it, also some of the text was not suitable for them.

This is a book that have been compiled of John Norwich's 'Christmas Crackers' he sends to his family and friends at Christmas time, instead of a Christmas card. The book is made up of poetry and prose that he has found amusing.

The illustrations in the book are wonderful, to be honest I expected nothing less from Quentin Blake! They are humorous and fit well with the text.

Some of the quotes I found very funny and others not so, I do feel though that my expectations of the book did not follow with what I actually got. I was disappointed that I wouldn't be able to share it with my class as it quickly became apparent this was an adults book.

This is a nice 'coffee table' book as it can be flicked through and you can get a snip of enjoyment from it.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending me this copy.
0 0 Reply
Leave a Review
You must be logged in to rate and post a review. Register an account to get started.