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Silent Night: Unusual story of ever-popular Christmas carol 150 150 mhamer

Silent Night: Unusual story of ever-popular Christmas carol

The serendipitous story of how Silent Night became one of the world's best-loved Christmas carols is told in Jimmy's Cricket's latest newspaper column.

The serendipitous story of how Silent Night became one of the world’s best-loved Christmas carols is told in Jimmy’s Cricket’s latest newspaper column.

The famous funnyman tells readers of the Lancashire Evening Post that it all started with a broken church organ…

Here is the full column which appeared in the newspaper earlier this month:

I’m afraid I’m going to have to relay some sad news, readers.

Come closer… the fairy on my Christmas tree is retiring this year.

Yes, she wants to step down while she’s still at the top!

Did I take you to the edge with that one?

Have you ever wondered how some of the Christmas carols we sing every year came about?

Well, let me tell you about one in particular.

This story takes place in a village called Oberndorf in Austria, on a snowy Christmas Eve night in the year 1818.

While preparing for midnight Mass at the local aptly named St Nicholas Church, Fr Joseph Mohr discovered he could not get a sound from the church organ, no matter how hard he pumped the pedals.

Looking for Divine inspiration, he remembered a poem he’d written a year before, after visiting a poor family in his parish to bless their child.

Enchanting melody

The image of a young mother holding her infant, wrapped snugly against the winter cold, captured Fr Joseph’s imagination and reminded him of another birth almost two thousand years earlier.

He fetched his written poem and rushed round to his schoolteacher friend, organist and composer, Franz Gruber, asking him if he could put music to it?

When Franz read the words, he was struck by their beauty and simplicity and immediately wove a slow, hauntingly enchanting melody to them.

That night, the song Stille Nacht was born, which we all know now as Silent Night.

With barely time for a rehearsal, the two men agreed that Fr Mohr would play his guitar, and sing tenor, while Franz sang bass.

We can only imagine the surprised look on the parishioners’ faces as they filed into the church for Midnight Mass later on that night, expecting to hear traditional Christmas hymns being played on the organ.

Instead, they heard two voices blending in harmony with an acoustic guitar singing an original carol that was as pure as an Alpine stream.

Pretty soon they all joined in.

Captivated

The story might have ended there but for an organ builder called Karl Mauracher who, while repairing the organ at St Nicholas Church in 1824, came across the song in the loft and was determined to popularise it.

It was then published, although Fr Mohr and Franz weren’t mentioned as the writers, and troupes of folk singers used it in their repertoires as they travelled all around Europe.

A famous family of singers called the Rainers, who were popular in America during the 1850s, were so captivated by the melody and words they had it translated into English.

In fact, it has been translated into 300 languages and is said to be the most translated Christian hymn of all.

But there’s more…

Silent Night has also become a symbol of peace.

For during the Christmas Truce of 1914 in the first year of World War I, British, German and French soldiers all sang it in their own language as they crossed over into No Man’s Land to shake hands and exchange gifts.

So, this Christmas as we sing Silent Night in our local carol service, let’s give a thought to Fr Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber.

They may not have earned a penny from their song, but they’ve given us something more important – an enduring musical legacy that’s lasted over 200 years.

Happy Christmas everyone!

Come closer – there’s more…

Did you miss Jimmy’s 80th Birthday Gala Show in November?

Or were you lucky enough to be there at the Lowry Theatre in Salford to see it in person?

Either way, you can watch the highights on The Irish in The Uk TV at 5.30pm every Saturday.

It was first broadcast on Tuesday (9 December) and is on repeat on SKY 588 and Freeview 279.

80th birthday charity show: Enjoy all the highlights on TV!

Need an ideal last-minute Christmas gift for someone who loves a good read? Memoirs of an Irish Comedian will fit the bill – full details here.

Have you heard Jimmy’s song created especially for Christmas? Listen to it here.

Jimmy Cricket's 2025 Christmas card

 

Attending the Last Post ceremony at Menin Gate 150 150 mhamer

Attending the Last Post ceremony at Menin Gate

Here attending, “The Last Post at the Menin Gate”, tribute to all those who lost their lives in the 155 war cemeteries which now surround modern-day Ypres!

Jimmy Cricket paid tribute to the war dead recently with a visit to a famous European memorial.

The well-known Northern Irish entertainer attended the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium.

The gate has historically been a crossing point over the moat and through the ramparts of the old town fortifications, on the road to the nearby town of Menin.

It had a special significance for Allied troops during World War I as it was from this place that thousands of soldiers set off for the part of the Front called the Ypres Salient – with many of them destined never to return.

The new Menin Gate was built on the same site in the form of a Roman triumphal arch  (see photo below) and was opened in July 1927 when the Last Post was played by buglers from the Somerset Light Infantry.

Since 1928, buglers from the Last Post Association have been playing the Last Post at the Menin Gate every night at 8pm. Only during World War II was the ceremony interrupted.

In military tradition, the Last Post is the bugle call that signifies the end of the day’s activities and is also sounded at military funerals to indicate that the soldier has gone to his/her final rest and at commemorative services such as Remembrance Day.

The walls of the Menin Gate are engraved with the names of nearly 55,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers lost on the field of battle but with no known graves.

Jimmy posted on social media: “Here attending, “The Last Post at the Menin Gate”, tribute to all those who lost their lives in the 155 war cemeteries which now surround modern-day Ypres!”

Here attending, “The Last Post at the Menin Gate”, tribute to all those who lost their lives in the 155 war cemeteries which now surround modern-day Ypres!