00:00Hello, I'm James Lovell and I've been training Father Christmases since 1998
00:05and I'm a bit of an expert on the subject.
00:13I was working as an elf at a big department store on Oxford Street
00:17and it's the famous one.
00:19And in those days, this was about 1998,
00:22and in those days there wasn't an online booking system.
00:26People literally turned up and there was a sign at the end of the queue
00:29that said you were two and a half hours from Father Christmas
00:31and people joined the queue and my job was to keep them jolly.
00:35So I did magic tricks and performed Christmas shows, etc.
00:38And when they got to the front of the queue, the door opened
00:41and this wonderful warm glow came out and there he was, there was Father Christmas.
00:45And it was an amazing moment because these poor children would be up the front of the queue
00:49and then it would let you turn back again
00:51and they would go right to the far end of the room
00:53and they'd been waiting, the excitement had been building with every moment.
00:55And when the door opened, there he was, I thought, gosh, this needs to be great.
01:00And so the following year, I was asked by the same department store
01:03to see if I could bring Father Christmas to the store.
01:06So hence, I got involved with casting people to recreate the magic of the real Santa.
01:11And that's very important to remember that the real Santa does exist.
01:14I'm only helping him out on those very rare occasions
01:16that he can't be in two places at once.
01:18And I went into great detail looking at who he was, where he comes from,
01:23how he behaves, how he looks,
01:25and what it takes to be the most magical character in history.
01:34First of all, you need to be jolly. That's really important.
01:37Father Christmas has to be a jolly fellow.
01:39He is probably the jolliest person on the planet.
01:42So you've got to exude charm and happiness.
01:47That's very important.
01:48And also you need to remember that when a child meets you,
01:51they're really seeing a lot of costume and a lot of beard.
01:53The only bit of you they can actually see is your eyes.
01:56So you need to be very expressive with your eyes.
01:57So you need to be able to smile with your eyes, listen with your eyes,
02:00be surprised with your eyes.
02:02A lot of eye action, very important.
02:03Your voice needs to be rich and fun.
02:05You need to be able to improvise.
02:07It's very rare that an actor of any kind or a performer has a situation
02:11where they have an audience of one sitting about as far away from them as you are right now.
02:17And they have to be credible.
02:19They have to be funny.
02:20They have to be warm.
02:20They have to be Father Christmas.
02:22It's a very demanding role.
02:23And you've got a great responsibility when you aren't dressed in the red and white suit
02:26to make sure that you are the real Father Christmas.
02:28I can remember the first time I had to do it.
02:31It was a day where Santa was ill and I was an elf.
02:34And they said, oh gosh, what are we going to do?
02:35And I said, well, I'll do it.
02:36And I've been a clown for 20 years.
02:38I thought there's not really many types of children that I haven't met before.
02:42So I put on the costume and I'm sitting in this lovely grotto thinking this is going to be easy.
02:46And the door opened.
02:47I remember I could hear the footsteps outside and the door opened.
02:50And there was a child who just looked at me and just went.
02:53And I went, my gosh, I'm Father Christmas.
02:55What do I do?
02:56And I realized then I had to make this moment incredible.
02:59So you really have to think about that when you are dressed in the red and white suit
03:03and portraying the man because you need to make that moment special.
03:07It's a very important part of a childhood, as is your first day at school or, I don't know,
03:11your first holiday or learning to ride a bike.
03:14These are all seminal moments in a child's life, as is meeting Father Christmas.
03:18So you need to make it a big one.
03:19Bye.
03:20Bye.
03:20Bye.
03:20Bye.
03:21Bye.
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