Oxford Street’s Lights

 Every Christmas, Oxford Street is decorated with festive lights. The lights were
originally installed in response to nearby Regent Street, which had featured
Christmas lights since 1954 and the tradition of Christmas lights began in 1959,
five years after neighbouring Regent Street. The lights were paid for by shop
owners and the local council, and were installed in order to give a sense of
occasion to shoppers that could not be found anywhere else. There were no light
displays in 1976 and 1977 because of economic recession, but the lights
returned in 1978.
 Current practice involves a celebrity turning the lights on in mid- to late-November,
and the lights remain until 6 January (Twelfth Night). The festivities were
postponed in 1963 because of the assassination of John F. Kennedy and in
1989 to fit with Kylie Minogue's touring commitments. In 2015, the lights were
switched on earlier, on Sunday 1 November, resulting in an unusual closure of the
street to all traffic.
 The lights are in position since the beginning of October and the baubles are
floating above Oxford Street by then.
 The theme this year is “Christmas is calling”.

 Christmas has officially launched on Oxford Street! The nation’s favourite

high street has been lit up for the festive season, celebrating the start of
Christmas with an exclusive series of in store gigs from the UK’s hottest
homegrown musicians and the BIGGEST ever shopping party!
 THIS YEAR more local celebrities switched on the lights: the Empress, Ray
Blk, RnB Powerhouse Kara Marni, soul-soother Isaac Waddington, and
Novelist!
 It’s the fifty-ninth year the road has been decorated for the festive period
and the switch on November the 6 until January the 6. This year their re-
inventing their launch, treating Londoners to pop up performances from UK
artists in selected stores down the street.  

CHRISTMAS CRACKERS

 A cracker consists of a segmented cardboard tube wrapped in a brightly decorated

twist of paper with a prize in the central chamber.
 The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) lists English Christmas Crackers as
an item prohibited from being brought onto an aircraft.
 Assembled crackers are typically sold in boxes of three to twelve. These typically have
different designs usually with red, green, and gold colours. Making crackers from
scratch using tissue paper and the tubes from toilet rolls is a common activity for
children.
 Tradition tells of how Tom Smith of London invented crackers in 1847. He created the
crackers as a development of his bon-bon sweets looking for new promotional ideas.
His first tactic was to insert "love messages" into the wrappers of the sweets Smith
added the "crackle" element when he heard the crackle of a log he had just put on a
fire.