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Andy Park (born 16 March 1963) is an electrician from Melksham, Wiltshire, England, who styles himself "Mr. Christmas" [1] after claiming to have celebrated Christmas Day every day since 14 July 1993.
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Andy Park (born 16 March 1963) is an electrician from Melksham, Wiltshire, England, who styles himself "Mr. Christmas" [1] after claiming to have celebrated Christmas Day every day since 14 July 1993.
Over the years Park has sent himself more than 235,500 Christmas cards. [2]
In 2005, he released a single entitled "It's Christmas Every Day", with a video featuring Mike Read and produced by Andy Whitmore.[ citation needed ]
He claims that each day he eats breakfast (turkey sandwich and mince pies), then goes to work, until returning around at lunchtime to eat a full roast turkey dinner before watching a recording of the Queen's Christmas speech, sherry in hand.
In an interview published in 2006, Park was quoted as saying that, over the previous 13 years, he had consumed 4,380 turkeys (one a day), 87,600 mince pies (20 a day), 2,190 pints of gravy (half a pint a day), 26,280 roast potatoes (six a day), 30,660 stuffing balls, 219,000 mushy peas, 4,380 bottles of champagne, 4,380 bottles of sherry and 5,000 bottles of wine. However, in 2001, he was warned by his doctor that the diet was affecting his health after his weight increased to 19 stone (270 lb; 120 kg).[ citation needed ]
Mr Christmas also sent in his song via post to The Scott Mills show on BBC Radio 1 and was opened live on air on 9 August 2018. It was played until listeners text in requesting the song to be stopped. Chris Stark and Scott Mills exchanged talks over how it could be a number one if it was recorded in a studio.
On 15 December 2007, in an interview on the BBC Radio 4 programme Saturday Live , Park said he was still celebrating every day.[ citation needed ]
On 22 December 2009, he appeared on talkSPORT radio. He was a guest on the Ian Collins' Late Show to discuss his lifestyle.
In 2009, Park appeared in former Radio 1 DJ Mike Read's Christmas single, "My Christmas Card To You". [3]
On 8 December 2015, Park appeared on the Channel 5 documentary Crackers about Christmas. The show explains how Park wanted his single to reach Christmas number one and he still follows his daily routine now in 2015, however, following recent reports in the Daily Mirror , he has decided to stop celebrating daily after Christmas 2015 due to wiping out his savings and being at risk of losing his home. [4] However, after just two weeks of abstention, Park returned to celebrating every day, citing his love for the holiday being too great. [5]
Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the old year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year in the Scottish manner. It is normally followed by further celebration on the morning of New Year's Day and, in some cases, 2 January—a Scottish bank holiday. In a few contexts, the word Hogmanay is used more loosely to describe the entire period consisting of the last few days of the old year and the first few days of the new year. For instance, not all events held under the banner of Edinburgh's Hogmanay take place on 31 December.
A mince pie is a sweet pie of English origin filled with mincemeat, being a mixture of fruit, spices and suet. The pies are traditionally served during the Christmas season in much of the English-speaking world. Its ingredients are traceable to the 13th century, when returning European crusaders brought with them Middle Eastern recipes containing meats, fruits, and spices; these contained the Christian symbolism of representing the gifts delivered to Jesus by the Biblical Magi. Mince pies, at Christmas time, were traditionally shaped in an oblong shape, to resemble a manger and were often topped with a depiction of the Christ Child.
English cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with England. It has distinctive attributes of its own, but is also very similar to wider British cuisine, partly historically and partly due to the import of ingredients and ideas from the Americas, China, and India during the time of the British Empire and as a result of post-war immigration.
Shepherd's pie, cottage pie, or in its French version hachis Parmentier is a savoury dish of cooked minced meat topped with mashed potato and baked. The meat used may be either previously cooked or freshly minced. The usual meats are beef or lamb. The two English terms have been used interchangeably since they came into use in the late 18th and the early 19th century, although some writers insist that a shepherd's pie should contain lamb or mutton, and a cottage pie, beef.
In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, 31 December. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinking, and watching or lighting fireworks. Some Christians attend a watchnight service. The celebrations generally go on past midnight into New Year's Day, 1 January.
Turducken is a dish consisting of a deboned chicken stuffed into a deboned duck, further stuffed into a deboned turkey. Outside of the United States and Canada, it is known as a three-bird roast. Gooducken is an English variant, replacing turkey with goose.
Stuffing, filling, or dressing is an edible mixture, often composed of herbs and a starch such as bread, used to fill a cavity in the preparation of another food item. Many foods may be stuffed, including poultry, seafood, and vegetables. As a cooking technique stuffing helps retain moisture, while the mixture itself serves to augment and absorb flavors during its preparation.
Christmas pudding is sweet, dried-fruit pudding traditionally served as part of Christmas dinner in Britain and other countries to which the tradition has been exported. It has its origins in medieval England, with early recipes making use of dried fruit, suet, breadcrumbs, flour, eggs and spice, along with liquid such as milk or fortified wine. Later, recipes became more elaborate. In 1845, cookery writer Eliza Acton wrote the first recipe for a dish actually called "Christmas pudding".
The observance of Christmas around the world varies by country. The day of Christmas, and in some cases the day before and the day after, are recognized by many national governments and cultures worldwide, including in areas where Christianity is a minority religion. In some non-Christian areas, periods of former colonial rule introduced the celebration ; in others, Christian minorities or foreign cultural influences have led populations to observe the holiday.
The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States is Thanksgiving dinner, a large meal generally centered on a large roasted turkey. Thanksgiving could be considered the largest eating event in the United States as measured by retail sales of food and beverages and by estimates of individual food intake. People often consume as much as three or four thousand calories during the course of the dinner.
Christmas dinner is a meal traditionally eaten at Christmas. This meal can take place any time from the evening of Christmas Eve to the evening of Christmas Day itself. The meals are often particularly rich and substantial, in the tradition of the Christian feast day celebration, and form a significant part of gatherings held to celebrate the arrival of Christmastide. In many cases, there is a ritual element to the meal related to the religious celebration, such as the saying of grace.
Roast goose is cooking goose meat using dry heat with hot air enveloping it evenly on all sides. Many varieties of roast goose appear in cuisines around the world, including Cantonese, European, and Middle Eastern cuisines. Roasting can enhance its flavor.
Christmas in Ireland is the annual festival which marks the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus and its related observances, but also incorporates some pre-Christian customs. These customs range from the traditional food and drink consumed, decorations and rituals, as well as more modern phenomena such as the Christmas day swim and annual television and radio events. The modern Irish Christmas has become more similar to that of the British and American festive period, with emphasis on gift buying and parties.
Smoking Bishop is a type of mulled wine, punch, or wassail, especially popular in Victorian England at Christmas time, and it is mentioned in Dickens' 1843 story A Christmas Carol.
Christmas in Russia, called Е́же по пло́ти Рождество Господа Бога и Спа́са нашего Иисуса Христа in the Russian Orthodox Church, is a holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. It is celebrated on the 25th of December on the Julian calendar, which corresponds to 7th of January on the Gregorian calendar. It is considered a high holiday by the church, one of the 12 Great Feasts, and one of only four of which are preceded by a period of fasting. Traditional Russian Christmas festivities start on Christmas Eve, which is celebrated on 6 January [O.S. 24 December].
Christmas traditions in Australia, like Christmas in New Zealand, have many similarities to British, Irish, American and Canadian traditions, including traditional Christmas symbols featuring winter iconography. This means a red fur-coated Father Christmas or Santa Claus riding a sleigh, songs such as "Jingle Bells", and various Christmas scenes on Christmas cards and decorations. However, the timing of Christmas occurring during the Southern Hemisphere's summer season has resulted in the development of some local traditions as a result of the warmer weather.
Christmas traditions in New Zealand—like those in Australia—incorporate traditional Christian, British and North American Christmas traditions, including biblical and winter iconography, as well as modern and local customs. As New Zealand is in the Southern Hemisphere, the holiday falls during the summer months, so it is often celebrated outdoors with barbeques, picnics, and trips to the beach. New Zealand Christmas dishes include summer fruits and vegetables, a variety of locally-produced meats and seafood, and pavlova dessert. Pōhutukawa are displayed as well as the traditional Northern European tree. Christian church celebrations are held on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, with carols and hymns sung in both English and Māori.
Peter Kay's Car Share is a British sitcom set around supermarket assistant manager John Redmond and promotions rep Kayleigh Kitson, and their participation in a company car-sharing scheme.
The culture of England is diverse, and defined by the cultural norms of England and the English people. Owing to England's influential position within the United Kingdom it can sometimes be difficult to differentiate English culture from the culture of the United Kingdom as a whole. However, tracing its origins back to the early Anglo-Saxon era, England cultivated an increasingly distinct cultural heritage. This cultural development persisted throughout the subsequent Anglo-Norman era, and the reign of the Plantagenet Dynasty.
