Warmest way to stay in touch

greeting from friends who live miles away and the personal note inside keeps us abreast of how they are going on.

We haven’t seen Mike and Judith for 20 years but Mike and I shared a flat and I was best man at his wedding. It’s good to have that contact, if only once a year. It revives memories of our youth.

The tradition of sending Christmas cards started in England in 1843 and shows no sign of dying out, despite the annual grumbles about cost.

The Greeting Card Association says the public spent more on cards last year than ever before. These included individual cards worth £1.7 billion, and an estimated 900 million Christmas cards in boxes and packs worth around £200m. It’s estimated that £50 million is raised from them for charity.

The commercial Christmas card was invented in 1846 by Sir Henry Cole. They were sold for a shilling each – 5p.

One that Sir Henry sent to his grandmother was recently sold at auction for £22,500.

Maybe I’ll keep the one from Mike and Judith. One day, the grandchildren could discover it’s worth a fortune. It’s reassuring to get a greeting from friends who live miles away and their note keeps us abreast of how they’re getting on ACCORDING to a celebrity lookalike site, my doppleganger is Liam Neeson.

Apart from the nine inches difference in height, his rugged good looks and natural charisma, the likeness is obviously startling.

I reported this in column last week and Chris Pearson says he used to get mistaken for Town legend Frank Worthington. Not only that, but his wife Sheila was often mistaken for actress Wendy Craig from the TV comedy series Butterflies.

“She used to get asked for Wendy’s autograph at one time. At the supermarket where she now works, people say ‘you remind me of somebody’.

”It would be interesting to see some photographs of other readers and their lookalikes.”

Who do you look like? Any takers? Submit your pics to the usual address.