So which Christmas traditions have survived?

If there is one word that is usually employed to justify practically anything over Christmas it is that phrase ‘tradition’. Don’t like sprouts? Tough, it’s a tradition. Don’t want to visit that weird uncle you have avoided all year? Forget it – it’s a tradition.

And so it goes on.

But just how are some of our Christmas traditions baring up? Looking at the festive time that has just passed, are those precious practices really as safe as we think? Investigative journalism beginneth!

Santa. Remarkably (and thankfully for any children reading!) Father Christmas seems as popular and as busy as ever. He obviously had a lot to do on Christmas Eve but he was everywhere around Bath before then. Santa is seemingly immortal.

(Tradition Survival Rating *****)

Christmas Cards. Definitely a dying art. I can guarantee that you didn’t receive as many this year as last and that you will receive even less next year. Nowadays you are just as likely to get a dancing elf on your computer as a card in the post.

(Tradition Survival Rating **)

Christmas dinner. Chat to any group of people and you will find the same repeated story – everybody dislikes at least one item on their Christmas dinner plate. Does it stop them getting it? Of course not. The Christmas meal looks as secure as the, err, Bank of England. Sorry turkeys – this one is here to stay.

(Tradition Survival Rating *****)

Christmas carols/Nativity plays. These looked a bit under threat a few years ago as fewer schools seemed to be holding them. Now, they seem to be making something of a come back and it looks as though we will be harking the Herald and admiring children who play ‘fourth camel from the left’ for years to come.

(Tradition Survival Rating ****).

Christmas presents. The Three Wise Men bought frankincense, myrrh and gold to the baby Jesus – nowadays, sadly, they would be more likely to take a few Shekels and a token for Bethlehem’s Toys R Us. The practice of just giving someone a lump of money and having the same amount given back to you is frankly pointless. Bring back real, wrapped-up, presents we cry!

(Tradition Survival Rating ****)

Christmas TV. This is still a tradition that is ‘hanging in there’ and once again this year BBC1 came up trumps. Eastenders remains one of my guilty pleasures and what could be nicer or more festive than seeing someone murdered in the Queen Vic on Christmas night?

(Tradition Survival Rating ****)

And finally....

Jesus. He is the ‘reason for the season’ but you’d be hard pressed to find evidence of that fact. Just take a look at the (few) Christmas cards that you got sent this year and I can guarantee that unless you are a vicar there will more images of Father Christmas, a reindeer or even a snowflake than the little fella from the stable. Jesus, of course, would (I am sure) just be happy that everyone is celebrating His birthday but just as if He were a twin there must be times when He thinks ‘just for one day I wish I was the only star of the show . . .’

(Tradition Survival Rating **** – but I am sure He will just about cope!).

Nicolas Cage - a gentleman and an honorary Bathonian

We, here at the Bath Chronicle, are doing an eight page picture supplement to mark the remarkable night last Thursday when Nicolas Cage switched on the Bath city lights. Here is the introductory piece I have done for it which sums up my feelings of a pretty extraordinary occasion. The picture above shows me and our managing director Sarah Irvine witht eh Hollywood A Lister (and yes, he is the one in the middle...)

Thursday, November 26, is a night that the city of Bath will simply never forget.

When it was first announced that Nicolas Cage was to turn on the city’s lights, I’m sure there were many who thought it was a ‘wind up’ or something that would actually never happen in reality.

But there we were, in our thousands last week, to see the reality come true as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood kicked off Bath’s Christmas celebrations in style.

It wasn’t just the fact that Nicolas Cage switched on the lights that made it so magical, it was the way he treated his adopted home town – and the way it treated him back. Even though there were upwards of 10,000 people struggling to get a view of the proceedings, the atmosphere, humour and spirit amongst this huge crowd was simply fantastic. Even the rain, which had been Bath’s constant companion last week, had a night off because nothing was going to ruin the night Hollywood came to our city.

As for Nicolas Cage, there are many things we could say to compliment him but what struck me most was that he came over as a real gentleman. He didn’t rush through proceedings as if he had something more important to do, he made time to talk to people and sign autographs. And when he spoke it was with a sincerity that belied the traditional view of his profession.

He was, in truth, an even better man than we had dared imagined and he made the night a special one for everyone that came into direct or indirect contact with him.

As far as the city goes, it was also a gift in publicity terms. The incredulity about the fact that the city had secured Nicolas Cage to turn on its lights was spread throughout the national and indeed international media but just as importantly was the fact that many of the media outlets picked up on what the star actually said.

The phrase that most hit me was when Mr Cage described Bath as “the most beautiful city in the world”. This is a man, remember, who has filmed and lived in some spectacular cities across the globe and yet none of them compares to the city of Bath in his eyes. This is a quote which must be used in every bit of literature that Bath tourism chiefs send out in future because the value of this cannot be understated.

We hope that Nicolas Cage realises that his simple actions last week have made him many, many friends in our community. He truly has now become an honorary Bathonian.

Nicolas Cage, Alcatraz and hard-to-please Bathonians!

I have come to the (somewhat belated) conclusion that it takes an awful lot to impress some people in the fine city of Bath.

Maybe it’s because Bath has always punched above its weight and attracted major events and famous people but it seems some Bathonians refuse to get excited about anything.

Take the event taking place in Bath tonight (Thursday, November 26) . For here in Bath we have Hollywood A-Lister Nicolas Cage switching on our city-centre Christmas lights. This is a role normally (and very adequately) performed by the mayor or another worthy citizen in most cities of Bath's size. But Bath (being Bath) doesn't think of itself as a small city so they wanted something different this year.

So the ad director at the Bath Chronicle newspaper (Paul Wiltshire) and a few others on the Bath Christmas marketing team drew up a ‘hit list’ of possible canddiates to do the honours with the emphasis on who could bring the most people onto the streets to kick off the Christmas celebrations.

Top of the list was a recent Bath resident Nicolas Cage but I bet next to his name there was brackets around the phrase “nice idea but no chance”.

Well, it seems there was every chance.

One of our enterprising young ladies here at the Chronicle, Emma Samways, did the really radical thing of asking simply asking Mr Cage via a polite letter if he would mind switching on the lights. And the rest, as they say, is history.

The news that a genuine Hollywood superstar would, quite literally, be lighting up the city, has caused a mixture of shock and awe in many circles. In our office alone a kind of minor hysteria has set in!

I sometimes think, however, you have to go out of Bath to get a perspective on things because when I’ve mentioned this news to people who live beyond our borders, they have said ‘how on earth did you pull that one off’?

In Bath, however, not everyone is so convinced.

We ran a letter a couple of weeks ago from someone asking us to stop putting Mr Cage in the paper, and there’s been a number of similarly ‘sniffy’ remarks on our website (http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/) too.

Some aren’t impressed with Mr Cage, others are worried about not being able to park and many are just a few words away from saying ‘bah humbug’.

So, in the interest of balance, can I just say publicly that the visit of Nicolas Cage is a GREAT thing for our city. As I say, if our office is anything to go by it has caused a wave of excitement among those who live and work in our community and all the shops and market stalls must be rubbing their hands with glee at the thousands of potential new customers who will hit the streets tonight and see what Bath has to offer.

Talking of shops brings me to another example of some Bath people finding it hard to appreciate what’s around them.

Bath has just opened a pretty stylish new shopping centre called SouthGate. I am more than happy to say that I really like the centre. I think it is an elegantly put together building which blends into Bath very well . And it is a million times better than the 60s monstrosity it has replaced.

But, again, not everyone is convinced.

This week, someone on a website has (wittily I think) compared it to Alcatraz, and although this did make me smile which is why I’ve reprinted the image here (SouthGate is below by the way!!!), we’ve already seen evidence in our letters pages and online that a lot of people just aren’t as convinced by the new centre as we are

Some people, for example, have criticised it for being ‘faux Georgian’ but sadly that’s the best we can do as we’re a couple of hundred years late to do the real thing! But equally, had it been more modern (and further away from Bath's Georgain roots) , I suspect the critics would have been lining up at the postboxes to write letters about how this betrayed the city’s heritage.

You just can’t win!

Ah well, maybe such debate is why we all love the city so much.

Right, better go, rumour has it there’s a Hollywood superstar in town...