Episode
An 1843 Lifehack Became a Christmas Tradition
- Podcast
- No One Saw It Coming
- Published
- Dec 15, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 1546
- Processing state
not_requested
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/no-one-saw-it-coming-7272304/episodes/an-1843-lifehack-became-a-christmas-tradition/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/no-one-saw-it-coming-7272304/an-1843-lifehack-became-a-christmas-tradition.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
There’s one man you can thank - or curse - for your hand cramp after writing all your Christmas cards. Sir Henry Cole was a ‘dumpy’ Englishman who had too many jobs and not enough time to write back to his friends and family so he created the first Christmas card in 1843. It caused quite the stir, and not exactly in the way he expected. Author and all-things-Christmas expert Ace Collins tells Marc Fennell (Stuff the British Stole) how the Christmas holiday evolved in Victorian England and why the first Christmas card took the country - and the world - by storm. Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]