Top Five Facts: Christmas

1)White Christmas

In the UK, the official definition of a ‘White Christmas’ is when a single snowflake hits the ground in the 24 hours of 25 December, which last happened across parts of the UK in 2009 and, before that, 2004. London’s last three official white Christmases were in 1999, 1976 and 1938.

2)Queen’s Speech

The Royal Christmas Message began in 1932 with King George V speaking via radio. The first message to be televised was made by Queen Elizabeth II in 1957.

3)Christmas Trees

To cope with the huge demand for Christmas trees every year, 33-36 million trees are produced in America specifically for the festive period, while 50-60 million are grown in Europe. For every tree harvested, 2-3 seedlings are planted in its place.

4)Twelve Days of Christmas

In the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” there are 364 gifts in total once every verse has been sung, one for each day of the year barring Christmas day. However, perhaps someone needs to write an extended version for leap years…

5)World’s Largest Christmas Cracker

The Guinness World Record for the world’s largest Christmas cracker was made in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, UK. It measured a whopping 63.1 metre long (207 feet) and was 4 metres high (13 feet). Inside the cracker where balloons, toys, a hat which measured  2.5 m (8ft) in diameter and a joke. The cracker was pulled by children of the school and members of Saracens Rugby Club.

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