April 2nd 2005 marked the bicentenary of Denmark’s most famous son, Hans Christian Andersen (1805-75). His homeland planned a huge extravaganza to honour their world-renowned storyteller.

On the anniversary of his birth in Copenhagen, at the Parken event arena, a gala opening ceremony was held to commemorate their prolific writer. Organizers referred to the event that was televised live as the ‘cultural Olympic games’. A host of International personalities were present representing politics, sport, music, theatre and literature.

From April 2nd until August 31st on the forecourt of Rosenberg Castle there will be a 600 square metre pavilion in the shape of a two-storied book. On display will be images and artefacts about the life, fairy tales and art of Andersen.

Hans’s father was a poor cobbler and they lived in a small, mean room in Odense that held his father’s workbench, parent’s bed and the child’s crib. During his early years his father filled his young mind with stories from the ‘Arabian Tales’, the Bible and Holberg’s comedies, giving Hans the education in life that he himself had sadly missed.

The tales and stories related to him acted as a colourful and powerful stimulus to his ever-fertile imagination. Having been born into abject poverty his one urge was to break free from his social inheritance and fulfil his potential in the only outlet available to him, the world of art.

One huge advantage he had living in Odense was the fact that there was a theatre which he visited for the first time in 1812. It was here that he met with travelling players from the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. The magic of the stage immediately set his young heart on fire, thereby deciding his future destiny.

On September 4th 1819 at the age of fourteen he left his home to seek his fortune in the theatre in Copenhagen. His first stay here was a dismal failure as he tried desperately to become a ballet-dancer, actor or singer. The management, recognising his raw talent, softened the blow somewhat by arranging for him to attend a school in Slagelse. Jonas Collins the theatre manger became his guardian.

In 1829 he made his official debut with his first prose work which proved reasonably successful. Throughout his life he wrote prolifically, but it would be as a children’s storyteller that he would gain world fame and renown.

He managed to get his first stage play performed at the theatre in 1829 and his calling as a writer seemed established. In 1835 his first novel ‘The Improviser’ was published along with his first booklet of ‘Fairy Tales Told for Children’.

In writing to a friend, he declared that he “wished to win the coming generations.” Having read the fairy stories his friend physicist Hans Christian Orsted prophesied: “If the novels will make you famous, the fairy tales will make you immortal.”

In the early 1950s Hollywood’s premier film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer made a fictionalised movie about him, declaring that it was a fairytale of part of the author’s life. It starred the irrepressible Danny Kaye and the songs and music composed by Frank Loesser more than did justice to Andersen.

The magic of his stories was retained with ‘The Ugly Duckling’, ‘Inchworm’, ‘Thumbelina’, and ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’. Many films have been made of Andersen’s fairy-stories and all retain the freshness and novelty, which still captivate millions to this very day.

His works have been translated into 150 languages and the full total output of his fairytales was 210, three autobiographies, five travel journals and six novels.

A great many parents may perhaps recall fondly, memories of their own children’s bedtime stories, as they began with the age old litany: “Once upon a time.”

That is a rich reward and a fitting epitaph for the man who popularised children’s stories and whose very name now is forever associated with them.