Reader Roy Cartwright, of Covingham, contacted the Adver with his list of 50 Christmas-related facts.

He says: "With Christmas fast approaching I remembered that my niece in America asked me some years ago what I knew about Christmas which I had to admit was very little, so I did a bit of research and came up with the following information below some of which I cannot guarantee is correct..."

We are bringing you 10 of Roy's facts a day...

21: The best selling Christmas song of all time is White Christmas by Bing Crosby first sung in 1942.

22: In Britain the best selling Christmas song is Band Aid’s 1984 song Do they know it's Christmas? recorded to raise money for starving children in Africa.

23: The city of Oslo in Norway has sent a giant Christmas tree to London every year since 1947 to say thank you to the people of Britain for their help in the Second World War. It is always put up in Trafalgar Square each year.

24: Christmas pudding was originally a soup made with raisins and wine.

25: Tom Smith made the first Christmas cracker in London in 1847 based on a sweet wrapper design.

26: Santa Claus comes from a Dutch tale based on St Nicholas who gave gifts out on December 6th.

27: Boxing day gets its name from two sources, One was that the master of the house would give boxes with presents in to his staff the day after Christmas (they, of course, did not get Christmas day off). The other was the Church would collect money in boxes the day after Christmas to give to the poor of the parish.

28: Kissing under the mistletoe comes from Frigga the Norse Goddess of love who was associated with this plant.

29: The first Christmas tree to have electric lights put on them was in the USA in 1882 by Edward Johnson.

30: The earliest reference to a Christmas tree was in a pamphlet printed in Germany in 1570.