What time should Christmas dinner be served? We ask an expert

There's a lot to think about during the festive season, but can Christopher Winn, author of The Book of Christmas: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Festive Traditions, help us at least solve riddle: what time should people sit down to eat?

If I had to guess, I'd say traditionally it's served around the Queen's Speech , or the king's speech now? It's just supposed to be a mid-day meal, so the Queen's Speech at 3 p.m. fit into it rather than the other way around. In other parts of Europe, people prefer their Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve and eat the leftovers the next day. In Britain, much of how we do it comes from the Victorians. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a good snapshot: Scrooge gave the Cratchits a turkey instead of a goose, that sort of thing.

Wait, so what's traditional: goose or turkey “Turkey is relatively new. It was introduced at the beginning of the 16th century, but only the very wealthy could afford it. They preferred that to what they were doing before: eating peacocks. Ordinary people would have had a native bird like the pheasant or goose, until the 1950s when refrigerators became popular.

I would be livid if my goose was swapped for turkey. Goose and potatoes, roasted together - you can't name a more iconic duo! Of course, the Christmas meal itself is based on a winter feast from pagan times. Christians adapted it to Christianity, so the holly ring for pagans was meant to ward off evil spirits, but later became a symbol of the crown of thorns of Jesus Christ.

So dinner is the culmination of many traditions. Exactly. Feasts date back thousands of years, but the details change depending on the most recent invention in circulation. Brussels sprouts came with Hanoverian kings because they a) grow in winter and b) have more vitamin C than an orange. And Prince Albert loved them. It's usually the wealthy who start lore.

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I wonder how our current ultra-rich will change Christmas dinners. Well, things are pretty much settled now, but there have been some small additions - Christmas cookies etc. The rich just do it with more excess, don't they?

Ooh, I know what they're gonna add - some kind of biohacking pill that keeps you from having a hangover. A hangover pill sounds great.

Let's talk about regional traditions. Yorkshire pudding: traditional or not? Traditional. Yorkshires date back centuries, from when people caught spit-roasted beef dripping onto a platter of pancake batter. Then there are regional cheeses and local specialties. Scottish dinners may feature haggis. I guess Welsh dinners might include leeks.

Before I go, what were you saying about Christmas crackers? How new are they? ! They were invented by Tom Smith in 1847 and included paper crowns, but just twist them open. One day Smith was sitting by a crackling fire and it gave him the idea to add a bong. The jokes were only added when his sons took over. What's that old cracker joke: "What's your favorite Christmas wine?" I don't like Brussels sprouts!"

Horrible. A really terrible joke. But it wouldn't be Christmas without them.