What Was Your Favourite Thing About Christmas When You Were Young,

[George 1978]

Re: What Was Your Favourite Thing About Christmas When You Were Young,

Definitely Santa's. Jebus never existed.

You're right - Jebus [sic] never existed.

Pity that most of the churches are closed at the moment.

[mueller0ne]

Re: What Was Your Favourite Thing About Christmas When You Were Young,

Pineapple.

[beccabear67]

A Ratty Christmas? Didn't Roland go to Switzerland?

http://www.ratfans.com/roland.htm

[George 1978]

I was thinking about Christmas 1985 when I got a yellow Tom and Jerry alarm clock and a blue Postman Pat lamp (both of which were placed on top of my bedside table throughout 1986 and perhaps later) - I also vaguely remember the TV on Christmas morning and Matthew Corbett and Sooty visiting kids in a Great Ormond Street-alike children's ward in hospital and giving them Sooty soft toys (bigger than Sooty himself, ironically enough), but funnily enough old TV listings give no such programme for that year. False memory, I assume...

It was also the final year that I went to the top floor of the Co-op to see Father Christmas and I can even remember what the girl in front of me wanted! I think it was the Monday after we broke up from school and we saw a Care Bears or other cartoon film at either the Odeon or the ABC. And Shaky was number one as well.

[beccabear67]

I wonder if that Sooty hospital visit was just a segment of some other program, not a Sooty Show proper?

I remember various Christmas presents from the '70s and '80s and how most didn't really last for very long. I had a Bugs Bunny electric pencil sharpener of all things though that I did use for years! I think it said "Sharpen up Doc!" on it and Bugs was sort of hugging a big carrot orange cylinder with the sharpener in the center that would come off for you to empty the shavings. That might seem a bit strange as a gift except I did like to draw a lot.

[George 1978]

I wonder if that Sooty hospital visit was just a segment of some other program, not a Sooty Show proper?

Could be - I know that a lot of celebrities were guests on other people's shows back then, and they often replaced the public on special editions at Christmas time. I have been racking my brains as to whether it was probably something on TV-am, or some Thames TV Great Ormond Street charity appeal thing - it was definitely ITV as we were that sort of household and that Sooty wasn't on the BBC in the 1980s.