These were as vital a part of the Christmas spirit as Midnight Communion, the Queen’s Speech or leaving a glass of milk and a carrot on the doorstep for St Nick and his reindeer.

Christmas pop music was a big deal in my early ’70s childhood. Disc jockeys would begin to file their predictions as to the identity of the Christmas Number One – often hilariously misjudged – from mid November onwards. There were glorious years such as 1973 – the era of Slade’s “Merry Xmas Everybody” and Wizzard’s “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day” – when several records contended for the crown. Novelty records, “serious” acts unbending sufficiently to release something with a festive undertone, gangs of middle-aged men in Santa outfits marauding through the Top of the Pops studio – all these were as vital a part of the Christmas spirit as Midnight Communion, the Queen’s Speech or leaving a glass of milk and a carrot on the doorstep for St Nick and his reindeer.

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