Interesting Facts

9th December Christmas Card Day - In honor of the first commercial Christmas card from Sir Henry Cole (1818 - 1874).  If you haven't posted your cards yet, you'd better get a shift on.

According to card manufacturer Clintons, Father Christmas now appears on 5.6 per cent fewer cards than before. (Their research also found that the appearance of robins on festive cards has declined by 23.4 per cent in 10 years, but the snowman has increased in popularity by 17.1 per cent. Images of snowflakes also rose by 14.3 per cent and Christmas trees have become more common, appearing on 7.3 per cent more cards.  Glitter now appears on 34.7 per cent more cards than a decade ago. Despite the changes, traditional designs are still popular, such as Victorian street scenes, holly bushes, bells and stars. Personally I prefer hand made cards.)

According to card company Clintons, Santa Claus has lost over 2 stone in the last decade. (They analysed 20 years of archived cards and found that depictions of Father Christmas on Christmas cards had become slimmer. "He’s not as fat and round as he once was,” said a spokesperson, putting it down to increased health consciousness. I bet Rudolph and co. are pleased.  Some enterprising person is bound to bring out a mince pies and sherry diet book. )

One tree makes enough card for about 3,000 Christmas cards. (If you look at Interesting Fact 1207, that means around 333,333 are felled to produce the Christmas cards for the UK alone.) !Note - Card, the material is uncountable. Cards are made of card and are countable. Don't you love English?

According to the recycling consortium, one billion Christmas cards end up in bins across the UK over Christmas. (That's 17 for every man, woman and child in the UK.)

In 2007 Gordon Brown did not send a Christmas card to Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel or Russia's outgoing president, Vladimir Putin. (Did I mention he's Scottish?)

The first Christmas card was designed by John Callcott Horsley and commissioned by Sir Henry Cole, a civil servant and inventor, in 1843. (It featured a design showing three generations of a family raising a toast to the recipient, and cost 1 shilling (that's 10p in new money). The average price of a Christmas card in the UK now (in 2005) is 71p, which might sound expensive in comparison, but it's actually much cheaper. A shilling could have bought you a meal back in the 1800s, so its buying power today is probably around £10.)