Christmas Tales

In this programme, Fiona Philips looks at Father Christmas. Is he a real life saint, pagan figure, commercial creation or a mix of the three? Whoever he is based on, our modern day idea of the jolly, bearded Santa is very different from the character loved but sometimes even feared by an earlier generation of children.

In the second of three programmes looking at festive icons, Fiona Phillips delves into the history of the Christmas tree, revealing how it was used as a Christian symbol for hundreds of years before Britons began putting them up in their living rooms. She also shows how the `tree craze' crossed the Atlantic, where retailer Frank Woolworth had introduced a new tradition - decorating them with baubles and tinsel.

In this programme, Fiona Philips delves into the history of angels, including the most famous of them all - the Archangel Gabriel. Although the Bible has no visual descriptions of Gabriel, he has a starring role in every school nativity and has been portrayed by many artists down the centuries. Fiona also reveals how angels were not just the preserve of Christians - they were revered by ancient Egyptians and treated almost like gods by the Romans.