Regent Street Christmas Lights are London’s most obvious manifestation of the Festive Season - though frankly they aren’t nearly as extravagant as they used to be, due to spiralling costs and, possibly, minimalist designers, not one of whom has noticed how dreadful they look during the day. The lights had unlit beginnings in 1948 and developed to full strength lights by 1953. The annual turn on, by an in-fashion ‘celeb’ amid much razzmatazz in the first week of November, is a great turn off for blasé Londoners because of the crowds and traffic chaos. Houses in Clitheroe and deepest Essex seem more festive somehow. Otherwise this section is a Christmassy mixture.
