Reader Roy Cartwright, of Covingham, contacted the Adver with his list of 50 Christmas-related facts.

He says: "With Christmas fast approaching I remembered that my niece in America asked me some years ago what I knew about Christmas which I had to admit was very little, so I did a bit of research and came up with the following information below some of which I cannot guarantee is correct..."

Today we bring you the final 10.

41: Santa has many different names all around the World, Here are just some of them. Kriss Kringle in Germany, Le Befana in Italy, Pere Noel in France, and Deushka Moroz ( Grand Father Frost ) in Russia.

42: Astronomers now believe that the star of Bethlehem seen by the Wise Men was in fact the planet Uranus.

43: 60 million Christmas trees are cut down in Europe alone each year for the festive season and apparently parts of the tree can be eaten (although it's not recommended that you try).

44: Santa first had a beard in the 1890s when a cartoonist Thomas Nast added it to some sketches in Harper's Weekly.

45: The first artificial tree was made in 1886 with green raffia, later Addis the makers of toilet brushes used their weaving machine to make pine like branches.

46: In 1914 it was the German troops that approached the British trenches calling out Merry Christmas in English and they later exchanged cigarettes, this was true wartime chivalry.

47: The first eggnog was created in 1607 at Jamestown, America (the word nog comes from grog meaning rum, which they put into it).

48: The iconic image of Santa flying in a sleigh came from a series of short stories in 1819 in the sketch book of Geoffrey Crayon.

49: If Santa flew at the speed of light it would take him 34 hours to visit over 800 million homes.

50: Frosty the snowman has been used since 1890 to advertise many forms of alcohol including Jack Daniel's whiskey and Chivas Regal whisky (bonus fact: the Americans and Irish spell whisky with an 'e', the Scottish don't).