The subject of a White Christmas is always quite important in the UK — not just because everyone likes a white Christmas, but because it’s one of the many things upon which you can place a wager in the UK. Each year, bookmakers give odds on a White Christmas, although the long odds tell you how often they pay out — a White Christmas in London is a very rare event indeed.

And they really dodged the bullet this year. We had an unseasonably warm Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but temperatures turned bitterly cold overnight and we ended up with several inches of snow on Boxing Day. (For those of you who aren’t quite clear about exactly what Boxing Day is, you can find more information here.)