Ruth Leon recommends… Hans Christian Andersen – Danny Kaye
Ruth Leon recommendsHans Christian Andersen
Born on 2nd April 1805 Hans Christian Andersenwas a Danish author born in Odense. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales.
The Ugly Duckling was his, as was The Snow Queen, The Princess and the Pea, Thumbelina and, of course, The Little Mermaid. Andersen’s fairy tales, 156 stories in nine volumes, have been translated into more than 125 languages.
But if you know anything about him I’m sure that you, like me, think of him as that character from the 1952 movie where he was played, unforgettably, by Danny Kaye.
I was seven when I was taken to see Hans Christian Andersen for a birthday treat, and could sing every song from the film, words and music, by the time I was seven and a quarter. Here is the song where he introduces himself. I can still sing it.
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