Unbelievables Photo Archive: Christmas Parties

Well folks, it's the holiday season, and here at Unbelievables HQ (a.k.a. Unbelieva-base) we're planning the annual office party. So with that in mind, it's time to look back at some parties of Christmas past and reminisce. So pull up your favourite high-backed leather armchair, don your cravat and smoking jacket, pour yourself a merry little cocktail and cue the warm fuzzy memories.

Here we are at a party with our friends from The Indescribables (pictured wearing the plaid slacks), a team from our local friendly canasta league. We're wearing the amazing canary yellow trews, and we've brought along our friend Charles Nelson Reilly (second from right) who was a good friend and Hollywood informant.

Here's Clark with another friend and mole from the entertainment world, Des O'Connor (who knew?), getting the drinks sorted for our 1972 piss-up work bash.

Quality comestibles always get the ladies to come running. 7Up is an obvious choice, as is a bunch of Lil' Smokies on sticks. Here I am seen going for my thirteenth 7Up, while Clark feeds a saucy damsel his wiener.

Sometimes the parties had such a huge guest list we had to hire a different venue as well as immaculately dressed wait-staff to help serve the champagne cocktails, leaving us free to chat up the ladies. In this picture we see Michael asking the wait-staff to kindly refrain from hitting on the girls, while Clark tries out his favourite line on Lady Felicity Farnes-Barnes: "Let's commit the perfect crime - I'll steal your heart, and you steal mine."

Meanwhile, I'm out in the back garden with Laura, Marissa and the stylishly dressed Aunt Mabel (left). Laura did not care much for my pickup line: "If a fat man puts you in a sack tonight, don't worry - I told Santa I wanted you for Christmas!"

Sometimes our parties were themed. Here we are at the "Brass Band Apres Ski Mixer." For some reason, Michael went the extra mile (as usual) and came dressed as the love child of Freddie Mercury and Mark Spitz. Where the congas came from, I'm not sure. Clark was making dreadful jokes about "getting the horn" and "blowing" things, not to mention "putting your lips together" etc. And I'm operating a life sized trumpet-playing ventriloquist dummy over there on the right. Good times, good times.

This was a fairly low-key gathering. Here you see The Unbelievables with Marissa and Laura at our 'punchbowl party'. I think this was the party where we all secretly spiked the punch with various exotic liqueurs, unbeknownst to each other. We didn't wake up till New Year's Day.

Here we are at our "It'll Be All White On The Night" Christmas do. Don't worry, the reindeer is actually a trained operative (whose identity cannot yet be revealed) in extreme deep-cover pun disguise as "The Goat Of Christmas Past" (groan!). Unfortunately, after a few hours in an all-white room wearing all-white clothes pounding down Smirnoff-based cocktails, we were all suffering from snow blindness. Rest assured we didn't make that mistake again. 

The trouble with holiday get-togethers is that there's always a ton of leftovers. Fortunately, Clark's Aunt Madge is a Tupperware lady, and the above picture shows the time she brought her entire stock. Not only did she save the day, but she did an impromptu Tupperware party for all the assembled guests, as well as some exotic magic tricks that I'd only seen once before, in a bar in Singapore. Good times, good times.

Happy Holidays everybody!