Monday, December 26, 2005

GRAHAM PACKHAM, Chair of the Hebden Bridge Arts Festival, spent the whole of Christmas Eve, and the day before, talking to the national media, including the Daily Mirror, the Sun and Sky TV. His phone didn't stop ringing. All because his father took photos to raise some cash in the austere years following WWII.

Graham Packham holding up the
Christmas Eve Daily Telegraph

When 62 year old postal worker, Jean Coles was shopping in Tescos, she noticed something vaguely familiar about one of the Christmas cards. It was her aged four years old kissing another boy, also four years of age. The boy was Graham Packham.

Graham's father was a keen amateur photographer, and used to send some of his pictures to photo agencies, in the hope that he would receive a fee if they were used. The Christmas Card photo was taken in 1947, and this year Tescos have sold over a million copies of the card.

On the question of payment for the media stories, Graham says he has been asking for donations to the cash-strapped Hebden Bridge Arts Festival. Tesco and Sky have so far indicated that they thought something could be arranged.

Read some more of the stories about this:

• Times
• Independent
• Daily Mirror
• Sun
• Daily Telegraph
• Times of India

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