Ted opens the door on his Advent calendar with a difference – The 37 days of Christmas

For some, the excitement lies in Advent preparations while for others it is Christmas Day itself or the New Year festivities.

But one man who decided he can have it all is Ted Coney – he is celebrating the 37 days of Christmas.

He arrived at the total by adding Advent, Christmas Day and the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas.

Inspired by limners – traditional Elizabethan period miniatures – he has fashioned a triangular piece of art with 37 doors, each of which reveals a tiny scene.

Ted, long-serving former head of art and design at Cambridge’s Hills Road Sixth Form College, drew on his family history to paint the scenes which cover birth, death and marriage.

Speaking of his inspirations, he said: “The triangular painting came from the idea of an alterpiece. Then there was the Elizabethan miniatures, the idea you kept something hidden and just revealed it to someone you are fond of.

“The scenes are inspired sometimes by something that happened to my family, sometimes something that has happened in the country.”

One miniature features a Champagne bottle.

The veteran cyclist said: “That’s inspired by me cycling to Sainsbury’s for a bottle of Champagne for Christmas morning!”

Ted, of Woolards Lane, Great Shelford, is also a keen lecturer, and will deliver his On The Edge art talk at Great Shelford Primary School on Tuesday at 7.30pm.

His “digitally enhanced” show features images of Roman remains and his 1931 Morris Minor is open to the public. Ted can be contacted on (01223) 843674.