The Wiki account of cracker history is virtually identical to the linguistic history of the term in the OED and to the party line the Tom Smith company has been churning out for at least the past 40 years.

No-one else seems to have an alternative account. No-one's been tampering with Wiki.

No doubt, like practically all interesting inventions and discoveries, someone else invented something almost identical at more or less the same time. But if they did, they either fell by the wayside or Tom Smith bought them.

Crackers were invented almost simultaneously, in about the same place, with Prince Albert first decorating a tree, Henry Cole commissioning a Xmas-themed visiting card and Dickens publishing "A Christmas Carol". Forget the penny post, railways, the rule of law, constitutional monarchy, peaceful global trade, organised sport and industrialisation: Victorian Britain's real gift to the world was the modern Xmas.

Now that's settled, let's get onto the real argument. When was Father Christmas first depicted wearing the Coca Cola colours?

>>Now that's settled, let's get onto the real argument. When was Father Christmas first depicted wearing the Coca Cola colours?<<

And did Mrs Claus wear brown leather trousers?

" When was Father Christmas first depicted wearing the Coca Cola colours?"

I can partly answer this, as there is a 1902 Magazine called Puck where the December cover shows Santa Claus pretty much as pictured today. There were earlier depictions of Santa in a red jacket, notably an 1860s advert for "Santa Claus Sugar Plums)" and a famous illustration by Thomas Nast form the 1880s.

I only know this because I was reading up on it earlier in the month.

TO go back to Christmas cards - I tend to buy mine after Christmas at much reduced prices, but I do specifically buy Nativity themed cards from local charities for friends, family and work colleagues who I know to be religious.