The Snowman

☃️ It’s 1982, and we’re walking in the air. The Advent Calendar House takes flight for its 7th season as we melt over a British Christmas classic and a personal favorite I wish was more beloved stateside. **** 🎙 Guest: Adam Parker Sibun from the Merry Britsmas Podcast ( @MerryBritsmas ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. New theme song! Thanks, Bronwen’s Ghost ! 2. Merry Britsmas episode on Raymond Briggs . 3. The British Film Institute’s Top 100 British TV Programmes of the 20th Century . 4. The special’s 3 openings, featuring Briggs , David Bowie , and Mel Smith as Father Christmas . 5. The original Snowman original picture book wasn’t a Christmas story. 6. Other Briggs works mentioned: Father Christmas , Fungus the Bogeyman , Ethel and Ernest , and When the Wind Blows . 7. How The Snowman melted David Bowie’s heart (The Guardian, December 2016). 8. Duncan Jones finds his dad’s scarf . 9. Video of an owl flying over snow I eerily shared on Facebook the night David Bowie died. 10. The Maccabees cover Walking in the Air . 11. The Royal Pavilion and Brighton Palace Pier . 12. Today’s TV Trope: Polar Bears and Penguins . 13. The Snowman in a commercial for Barbour outerwear . 14. Irn-Bru soft drink’s parody commercial , and its sequel . **** 📼 Retro Commercial Break: 1985 Toys “R” Us Snowman Commercial featuring Aled Jones covering Walking in the Air (sung in the special by Peter Auty). **** “The Snowman” © 1982 Snowman Enterprises Ltd. Say hi on Twitter , Instagram , and Facebook . Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house . Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost . Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house .