English Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas between 1647 and 1660 because he believed such celebrations were immoral for the holiest day of the year.
26
The sun sets on 24 December at 3.55pm in the UK, and rises the following morning at 8.05am.
81
The first Christmas card was designed in 1843 by J.C. Horsley.
38
Nearly 60 million Christmas trees are grown each year in Europe.
74
The Queen's Christmas speech was first televised in 1957.
18
US scientists calculated that Santa would have to visit 822 homes a second to deliver all the world's presents on Christmas Eve, travelling at 650 miles a second.
415
The 26th of December is traditionally known as St Stephen's Day, but is more commonly known as Boxing Day. The reason it was called this is either alms boxes in church were opened and the money distributed to the poor, or alternatively it was named from t
-1
7.6 million Christmas trees are sold each year.
100