and while it would be going too far to say dickens invented a victorian christmas, he certainly, for millions of us, defined what christmas should be. he certainly gave christmas a meaning which it had not had before. he says, "it is the only time in the long calendar of the year that i know of that men and women open their closed up hearts freely and think of those below them as fellow passengers to the grave." a christmas carol by charles dickens. who are you? what do you want? the story of scrooge and his night of ghostly encounters goes down through the generations. what do you want with me? much. there have over the years been 73 film and tv adaptations and marking today's anniversary, a display at the london pall mall gallery. this lost portrait was rediscovered in south africa, much to the delight of charles dickens‘ great—great—great—granddaughter. this is what he looked like

when he wrote a christmas carol. this is him at 31 years old. the intensity of those eyes. when you think about the campaigning in this book, this is what dickens looked like when he was writing it. thejob now, raising the money to buy it for the dickens museum. time perhaps for a bit of the spirit of a christmas carol. as tiny tim observed, god bless us every one. david sillito, bbc news. newsnight‘s about to begin over on bbc two in a few moments. here's emily. tonight, who are the people you'll remember from 2018 and how have their moments defined our country and our year? join me now on bbc two. here on bbc one time for the news where you are. goodbye. pretty mild out there at the moment. at least for the time of year. we the rest of the week, there is not much hello and welcome to sportsday.

i'm sarah mulkerrins. your headlines tonight: tottenham are through to the league cup semi—finals thanks to a delightful dink from dele alli. celtic go back to the top of the scottish premiership as rangers miss their chance. "manchester united is in my heart", says ole gunnar solskjaer, as he returns to the club as interim manager. and "ban me if you want". adam peaty takes a stand against world swimming's governing body. i don't care. you know? ban me. if they got to, i'm not bothered. it's... at the end of the day, they're going to have the backlash from that. you're very welcome along to

sportsday. tottenham came out on top in their north london derby against arsenal to reach the semi—finals of the league cup this evening. the semi—finals of the they were 2—0 winners at the emirates, with goals from son heung min and dele alli. but there was a nasty incident in the second half, when alli was hit in the head by a bottle thrown from the stands. arsenal say they're examining cctv to identify the culprit. arsenal say they are examining cctv to identify the culprit. nick parrott has this report. in north london derby is, the season's goodwill is limited to the bench. the managers convivial, their players confrontational. their last encounter here a fortnight ago sought a sending off as arsenal won 4-2. sought a sending off as arsenal won 4—2. changes in personnel took some of the heat out of this encounter but not the entertainment. experiencing this atmosphere for the first time, not intimidated. the argentinian went from tottenham's

saviour to creator. this creation leading to son heung min‘s opening goal. with few shots on target, harry kane came off the bench to make his first appearance in this combination for three years. just 60 seconds later, he set up dele alli to double spurs‘s advantage. moments later, arsenal's substitute alexandre lacazette almost made a similar impact. dele alli struck by a water bottle. a fitting end to what had been entertaining cup tie. nick parrott, bbc news. chelsea are also into the semi—finals after beating bournemouth 1—0 at stamford bridge. the match had been heading for penalties, but substitute eden hazard scored a deflected goal to send his side through. scrappy in the and. the dry has been made for the semifinals. tottenham face another london derby against chelsea.

meanwhile, league one burton's albion will face the might of premier league champions manchester city. both ties will be played over two legs next month. celtic have returned to the top of the scottish premiership after beating motherwell 3—0 at celtic park. as for rangers, they are now second after drawing 0—0 away at hibernian. rangers had the better of the chances, especially this from james tavernier, but he couldn't get a strike on goal. steven gerrard's side are a point behind their rivals and celtic have a game in hand. this is the picture at the top of the table. it's really tight. three points separate the top four teams. celtic back top, just a point above rangers, with kilmarnock and aberdeen close behind. real madrid have booked their place in the final of the club world cup in abu dhabi. they beat the japanese side kashima antlers 3—1 and will now face al ain, who shocked river plate on tuesday.

colm harrison was watching. these two sites have history in the clu b world these two sites have history in the club world cup. real madrid beat kashima to make it three in four yea rs, kashima to make it three in four years, and this was to make it four and five. a fingertip save from thibaut courtois. it took a weapon of their kinship to get going but when they did, they did so in devastating fashion. gareth bale relieves the pressure by breaking the deadlock just before relieves the pressure by breaking the deadlockjust before half—time and may be mindful of replay‘s shock exit on tuesday, they added two more in quick succession early in the second half just to in quick succession early in the second halfjust to make sure. after pouncing on wayward backpass to double real madrid's lee, bale wrote then just double real madrid's lee, bale wrote thenjust made it double real madrid's lee, bale wrote then just made it 3—0. double real madrid's lee, bale wrote thenjust made it 3—0. with 14 minutes ago, a consolation goalfor the asian champions but it was too little, too late and so it's the

holders real madrid will face the host nations champions al ain in saturday's final. called harrison, bbc news. manchester united today announced that their former striker 0le gunnar solskjaer will be interim mananger until the end of the season. he says the club is in his heart and it's brilliant to be coming back. andy swiss has been assessing the norwegian‘s appointment. as a player, he was no stranger to rescuing united... solskjaer takes it... 0h, he has scored! super sub has done it again! 0le gunnar solskjaer‘s goals made him an old trafford legend. he scored the winner in the 1999 champions league final but now he is back with a very different challenge, as caretaker manager. in a statement, solskjaer said... while the club's vice—chairman, ed woodward said... that is a hint, perhaps, of what was lacking under

jose mourinho who was sacked yesterday after weeks of turmoil. and fans i spoke to this morning welcomed the norwegian‘s appointment. absolutely delighted. i think he's going to bring the feel—good factor back to the club. we've had negative football for so long. and we need an uplift. we've had moyes, we've had van gaal and we've had mourinho. we need the time to make sure that we get the right appointment for our next permanent manager and i think 0le, for the next six months, will do. there were even congratulations from norway's prime minister, erna solberg. "great day for norwegian football," she tweeted. but not everyone is so happy. solskjaer has only managed once in the premier league, at cardiff. that ended in relegation and the sack, which some believe hardly bodes well. to be appointing an interim manager now is a shambles. let's get it right. five wins from 30 at cardiff? listen, he might have scored the winning goal in the champions league final, but is this really where

manchester united are at? this morning, it was training as usual for united's players. among those arriving, paul pogba, who had become disillusioned under mourinho. solskjaer will have to re—energise him and the rest of the squad as united hope the return of this club hero can start bringing back the glory days. andy swiss, bbc news. jose mourinho issued a statement this afternoon, saying... and he went on to say... olympic champion adam peaty has dared swimming's

governing body to ban him, after he backed plans for a new competition next year. the inaugural international swimming league was meant to take place in italy this month. but it was cancelled after fina threatened to prevent anyone who raced from competing in next year's world championships. over 30 of the world's top swimmers met in london today to back plans to launch the isl next august and establish an independent swimmer‘s union. peaty says he's ready stand up to fina. i don't care. you know? ban me. if they got to, i'm not bothered. it's... at the end of the day, they're going to have the backlash from that, so... they know they can't. they know they can't get away with it. you lose all the respect of the athletes and you can't bully athletes into racing. they need to listen the athletes, to start working together. it shouldn't be a take, take, take ora give, give, give. it should be a give—take relationship. let's take a quick look at some other stories today. premiership rugby says it's moved into a "new era" after a deal was finalised for private equity

firm cvc capital partners to invest more than £200 million. they say the extra money will not result in a hike in player wages, but will go towards improving facilities at club level and growing the league globally. two former wales captains have been named as assistants to the incoming head coach wayne pivac. stephen jones and jonathan humphreys willjoin the set up when pivac takes over from warren gatland after next yea r‘s world cup. the gloucester fly—half danny cipriani is out for up to six weeks with a small tear to a chest muscle. that's also a blow to his hopes of being included in england's squad for the six nations that starts on february i. the adelaide strikers got the big bash season underway with victory over the brisbane heat. they successfully chased down their target of 147 with 5 balls remaining.

it is, of course, the most magical time of the year, and it seems romance extends to sweethearts who love darts. take a look at this. during a second round match at the pdc world championship, 0li popped the question to natasha. of course she said yes! everyone, players included, waited for her answer. chuckles on their faces. it turns out he has hit the bullseye. apologies for that line. it has to be done. that's it from sportsday. coming up in a moment, the papers. good night. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers will be

bringing us tomorrow. with me, the broadcaster david davies, and kate andrews, associate director at the right—wing, free market think—tank the institute of economic affairs. lovely to have you both in this evening. we will have our chat in a moment. first off, quick look through those papers. let's start with the metro and its headline — "i didn't call pm a stupid woman". the paper says jeremy corbyn faced a sexism storm after his muttered comments in the house of commons earlier today. with only 100 days until brexit, the daily telegraph nicely sums up the day's events in the commons using pantomine cliches — did corbyn mouth "stupid woman" at may? "oh, yes, he did," say tories. 0n the front page of the daily mail — "read our lips mr corbyn — you're a liar". experts tell the paper

that the shape formed by his lips could not possibly be "stupid people", as the labour leader claims. the i calls it "panto politics," and meanwhile, the eu is warning that a no—deal brexit will disrupt air travel and leave brits abroad living with uncertainty. the guardian says parliament descended into chaos today. it also claims that rebellious ministers believe theresa may will be forced to back down on her curbs to immigration after brexit, following the publication of the government's white paper today. in other news, the financial times reports that the glaxosmithkline chief emma walmsley has launched a plan to split the group in two and launch a joint venture with us rival pfizer — creating the world's largest provider of over—the counter drugs. and finally, ‘grey rage‘ leads the daily mirror, after calls from the royle family

star ricky tomlinson for a pensioners‘ revolt to protect free tv licences. we are going to start off, kate and david comeau with the telegraph. it's 100 david comeau with the telegraph. it‘s 100 days officially. should we start... talk us through this. it‘s 100 days officially. should we start... talk us through thislj think start... talk us through this.” think it‘s good that christmas is coming up. everyone needs to take a deep breath. go home and reboot. it doesn‘t matter which side of the policy debate you‘re on. i think eve ryo ne policy debate you‘re on. i think everyone is getting very close to losing their minds as they operate politically with each other. the government has not helped. protocols have gone out the window. there was going to be a meaningful vote. they promised it.