Searching the web for a couple of Charles Causley Christmas poems I came across this. I wouldn't like to suggest any of my friends fitted the bill, but there is no doubt I saw all these characters around other beds.
Charles Causley is sadly neglected. He lived most of his life in Launceston, which is just down the road from here. He was a teacher as well as a poet. The poems, and things you read about him, suggest he was a delightful man. That other teacher Jake Thackray had his own quirky view of life. What must t have been like learning from such people as a small child!