I’ve been so busy with real life (about which more in the new year, I expect) that I’ve barely had a chance to post recently, so it’s with a sigh of relief that I realise it’s time to resurrect the annual Gladallover musical advent calendar. I’ve already used up all my favourite Christmas songs, so rather than resorting to all my least favourite Christmas songs, this year I’m introducing a theme. All the songs this year will be UK Christmas number ones from my lifetime, counting down in order from the 24th-best to the best. Since I have been alive for 34 Christmases I have dropped the ten worst, but I’m not going to tell you which they are until Christmas Eve, otherwise you’ll be able to work out what’s coming.

So without further preamble I present the UK Christmas number one from 1980, The St Winifred’s School Choir singing There’s No-One Quite Like Grandma. It’s pretty awful, but it’s sort of mesmerising at the same time. I was four that Christmas, which means these children are probably only a couple of years older than me. What strikes me, when I watch the video, is how completely of their time they look. You could date it to within a couple of years just by the haircuts. Good old the 1980s.