I can’t tell whether I really think that it’s the best way for me to work or if I’m too lazy to try and get better at some of those things.

I highly recommend the book and I am very much looking forward to more illustrated stories from the author. In their final, emotionally charged gig at Alexandra Palace in July, Weeks told sobbing fans: “We’re not averse to booing, so if you want to boo, get it all out now. It’s a much happier place for me, because you feel that the whole day is the investment, and not just the hour-and-a-half on stage. In a beautiful moment of life coming full circle, Weeks received an endorsement from the man who made him fall in love with quiet, understated Christmas stories in the first place: a certain Raymond Briggs.It’s what you think about a lot, it’s what you read about, what you’re trying to educate yourself on. The Gritterman, both written and illustrated by Orlando Weeks, is a picture book quite unlike any other. He also allows his main character to be romantic about snow and winter – and then illustrates their isolating effects on a lone individual in an English landscape. It felt like we’d made such good strides with [third album] Given to the Wild,” Weeks ponders via Skype, “and that maybe we had not moved on as far again with Marks to Prove It, and we’d been doing it for a very, very, very long time.

Of course, Paul Whitehouse isn’t the only high-profile figure to lend his support to the Gritterman project.Chris Van Allsburg’s The Polar Express is an impactful and wonderful story that shows the importance of faith, belief, and magic, especially during Christmas. With humour and happiness at every page, Truman Capote created a story that allows readers to slip into the festive feelings of agelessness. This beautifully illustrated picture book tells the story of a man who has been made redundant in his long serving job as a gritterman.

The book – a touching Raymond Briggs-like story about an old man from a rural, working class neighbourhood, who is being forced by the council to retire from his job – might seem a surprising career move. Although unaware of the resemblance until that very moment, suddenly, Weeks – who has spent the last 14 years as the frontman of indie rock band the Maccabees – could see it too. So what you have is this splurge gun effect that makes it impossible to pick the correct hole in that scattergun of lies… It seems to me that in America Trump completely understands his base and plays on that, making it very hard within their electoral system to imagine how someone can beat him.Orlando Weeks’ debut solo album ‘A Quickening’ catalogued the emotions and expectations that accompany imminent parenthood: anxieties and anticipation, hopes and fears, a monumentally personal yet also an undeniably universal experience. Weeks credits Bullion’s class, taste and open-mindedness, noting that “I’ve never worked with anyone who had such an identifiable aesthetic to their own music. He was initially told by literary agents that he would need a child protagonist if he wanted to engage children’s interest. A festive tradition in the making, Orlando Weeks will revisit his debut book ‘The Gritterman’ and its companion album (produced by the Grammy-winning Markus Dravs) with three special live concert performances this Christmas time.

While The Gritterman has a grin-and-bear-it old fashioned attitude, and is very closed in terms of dialogue, the accompanying music lavishly articulates the circumstances and moods abound in the character. When I knew my grandfather, I felt that he had been a big strong man and now was less of a big strong man. I feel like there is just something about Orlando and the way he expresses his craft be it music, art or literature. Fast forward two decades and Orlando Weeks, now 34, has embarked on a creative project which beautifully encapsulates his vision of a genteel, understated Christmas: The Gritterman.In fact, performed live in such splendid surroundings, it felt sweet and uplifting, while managing to evade the mawkishness that can be associated with festive fare. I guess I premiered ‘Deep Down’ and ‘Big Skies, Silly Faces’ with the BBC Concert Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, and I used a megaphone there. There’s already been talk of turning The Gritterman into an animated film, much like Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman (“I’d love that; that’s the long-term ambition”); but, before that happens, Weeks is firmly focussed on bringing The Gritterman to the live stage. The result of his lonely efforts is a witty, affectionate book that sets the dignity of toiling away at night against an elegiac tale of climate change.