the TINSEL

Sparkly and oh-so nostalgic – shimmering tinsel bedecking a Christmas tree is an essential decoration for many. Historians have dated this retro garland back to 15th-century Nuremberg, Germany where lame!a, as it was known, was "rst cra#ed from silver hammered into thin strands. As silver proved costly and tarnished easily, in the early 20th century aluminium and copper were employed. Alas, the former was too $ammable to display alongside fairy lights and candles, while the la!er was needed elsewhere during the Second World War. In the 1960s manufacturers used shiny lead alloy coated in silver… until they discovered lead was highly poisonous in the 1970s. Today, tinsel is made from plastic.