A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) is probably Schulz’s masterpiece for television. It exemplifies the bittersweet tension between religious feeling and existentialism, connectedness and alienation in his work. Charlie is struggling with the meaning of Christmas and wonders if it merely amounts to selfishness and crass commercialism. In response, the film manages to pull off a touching reading by Linus from the King James Bible. But at the same time, the story ends with the Peanuts coming together to transform a scrawny fir tree into a glorious Christmas tree through friendship.

Incidentally, the innovative soundtrack of Charlie Brown Christmas included a lot of jazz by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. This is an unusual choice. However, one could argue that the endless improvisations of jazz music make it a perfect fit for the indeterminacies of the Schulz universe. And for the minds of children.

War games

Schulz drew Peanuts during some turbulent decades in America, marked by the Korean War (1950-3); the Vietnam War (America entered in 1965 and the war ended in 1975); the Cold War; the constant clashes associated with the Civil Rights movement; the assassinations of John F Kennedy and Dr Martin Luther King Jr. The unassailably cool Snoopy became a sort of cult mascot among US soldiers in the Vietnam War, emblazoned on equipment, patches and banners; a little bit of Minnesota, to comfort them in hell.