Fancy That!

Facts to make you go“WOW!”

Bing Crosby was born Harry Lillis Crosby and took the name Bing from a comic strip, The Bingville Bugle Tinsel gets its name from the Old French word estincele, which means sparkle. Santa’s global round demands visiting 822homes per second –nowonder he gets the rest of the year off!

WOW! CABBAGEE PATCH KIDS ARE THE MOST POPULAR CHRISTMAS TOYST EVER.

◆ JingleBells was the first song broadcast from space, when sung b by Gemini 6 astronauts s Tom Stafford and Wally S Schirra in December 1969. ◆ PUBS IN EDINBURGH CAN EXTEND THEIR OPENING HOURS TO 3AM AT CHRISTMAS. ◆ Holly bushes laden with berries at Christmas are always female.

◆ THE RUSSIAN NAME FOR FATHER CHRISTMAS IS GRANDFATHER FROST.

◆ Pig’s head and mustard was Britain’s original Christmas treat.

◆ ACCORDING TO A CZECH SUPER STITION, THERE MUST ALWAY YS BE AN EVEN NUMBER FOR CHHRISTMAS DINNER, OR THE ONE WWITHOUT A PARTNER WILL

DIE NEXT YEAR. ◆ LAST YEAR’S QUEEN’S SPEECH HAD TO BE RERECORDED BECAUSE OF THE BACKGROUND NOISE OF BIRDS CHIRPING IN THE BUCKINGHAM PALACE GARDENS. ◆ The Beatles scored the most Christmas number 1s, topping the charts in 1963, 64, 65 and 67.

◆ THE WORLD’S TALLEST CHRISTMAS TREE WAS 221FT TALL AND STOOD IN A WASHINGTON SHOPPING MALL IN 1950.

◆ Tangerines are named after Tangier, Morocco, which was the first port the fruit was shipped from. The Cairngorms is Britain’s snowiest place, with snow falling on an average 76 days per year ◆ Mistletoe gets its name from the Anglo Saxon words meaning dung-on-a-twig. WOW!

HOLLY WAS ORIGINALLY BROUGHT INDOORS TO WARD OFF EVIL SPIRITS, AND HOLLY BUSHES WERE ONCE ENCOURAGED TO GROW THROUGH HEDGES TO PREVENT WITCHES RUNNING ALONG THE HEDGE-TOP.