Dinu Săraru Dinu Săraru Dinu Săraru (born 30 January 1932 in Slătioara, Vâlcea) is a Romanian novelist and playwright. A member of Writers' Union of Romania, he belonged to the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party prior to 1989, and headed Teatrul Mic and Teatrul Foarte Mic from 1977 to 1990. Subsequent to the fall of the communist regime, he served as chairman of the National Theatre Bucharest, being appointed in 2001 and resigning in 2004. He has claimed that his work during the communist regime was not for the purpose of glorifying dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, but rather included subtle dissident
Christmas Day in the Workhouse very popular and such work made Sims a great success. He went on to write detailed exposés of the life of the poor for periodicals such as the "Weekly Dispatch", "The Pictorial World" and "The Daily News", which had been founded by Charles Dickens. Among the many parodies of Sims' ballad are "Christmas Day in the Cookhouse" (1930) by British comedian Billy Bennett, recited by a soldier in the 1969 film "Oh! What a Lovely War"; "'Twas Christmas Day in the Poorhouse" (2000) by Garrison Keillor; and "Christmas Day in Grey Gables", submitted by a listener to the BBC Radio