14/12/2017 Newsround

Hi, I'm Martin.

It's Thursday and this is Newsround.

Members of the Royal family,

including Prince William

and Prince Harry have been

to a memorial to remember those

who died in the Grenfell

Tower fire in June.

It's been six months

since the tragedy.

The special ceremony today

is to make sure the people who died

are never forgotten.

Now, it's almost Christmas,

but did you know a couple

of hundred years ago,

Christmas wasn't really

celebrated that much at all!

Thanks goodness all that changed.

I love Christmas, and I hear

it was actually the Victorians

who are responsible for some

of the things that I enjoy

during the festive period.

So I've come to this Victorian town

to find out what some

of those things are.

Now, one thing I love

about Christmas is sending cards.

So let's find out more about that.

So, tell me, who's going to be

sending Christmas cards this year?

Me!

What are we doing here?

We're here in the Victorian print

shop, because it was the Victorians

that invented Christmas cards.

The first card was invented in 1843

by a man called Sir Henry Cole.

They invented stamps as well.

The Victorians sent

a lot of Christmas cards

because during Victorian times,

more and more children went

to school and learnt to read

and write, and that meant that

people wanted to send more mail,

especially at Christmas.

So, we have Victorians to thank

for Christmas cards.

Next stop, a sweet shop for

the history of Christmas crackers.

I love crackers!

We are here in a sweet shop,

and we are here because a Victorian

invented Christmas crackers.

He saw sweets in Paris wrapped

in paper, and he brought

this back to Britain.

When did they make them?

He made them in the 1840s,

so around 170 years ago.

In the Victorian

times, did they bang?

They did, it wasn't added

until a little bit later,

but apparently the man who invented

Christmas crackers was sat next

to a fire and he heard a log

crackle, and he thought let's add

that snapping sound to a cracker.

Well, that's cracking, isn't it!

Bad pun!

I thought that joke was good

enough to go in a cracker?

Anyway, last stop, one of my

favourite things about Christmas.

The tree.

Look how Christmassy

it looks in here.

You've got these guys

decorating the Christmas tree.

Looking good!

You guys carry on.

Why are the Victorian times

so important when it comes to having

a Christmas tree in your house?

Well, it was the Victorians

who really brought the tradition

of Christmas trees to Britain,

and it was actually

Queen Victoria's German husband

Prince Albert who brought this

tradition over with him.

He had had a Christmas tree

as a boy living in Germany,

so he brought this over with him

and really popularised it.

Everyone saw it and thought

yes, I want a tree too.

Well, this tree is looking amazing!

There's only one thing left

to do then, isn't there?

ALL:

Merry Christmas Newsround!

Now, scientists in Greenland

think they've found

the oldest shark in the world.

They think it's over 500 years old.

It lives in the Arctic ocean.

We've been thinking about his life.

Scientists think this shark

could be 512 years old,

which means he would have

been born on the year 1505,

making him 41 years older than

world famous poet and playwright

William Shakespeare.

He was alive when the

Empire State building,

Eiffel Tower and the leaning

Tower of Pisa were built.

He was there when both TV

and radio were invented.

He's lived through two world wars,

six moon landings and

during his time on earth, he's even

outlived entire animal species.

And he's not FIN-ished there!

It's safe to say he

is a fair old shark.

You know how wrinkly us humans get

when we stay in the

water for too long?

Well, considering this fella

has been wet

for more than five centuries,

I'd say he's looking good.

Now a local council advised pupils

at schools in Falkirk in Scotland

not to buy teachers presents.

It says it's not fair for those

who can't afford them.

Thank you so much for

all your comments about this

at Newsround online.

Class 4KH at Castle Acadamey

in Northampton discussed it

and they say we feel buying a gift

for a teacher should be your choice.

Nell - who's in Carmarthen -

says buying a present shows you're

grateful for all they have done

for you throughout the school term.

But Flo who goes to the Dragon

School in Oxford says

some people might not be able

to afford it and that might not make

them feel good about themselves.

That's all from me.

Don't worry, we will be back bright

and early tomorrow at 7:40am. Find

out all the rest of the day's News

on our website. There's loads of

stuff there about the new Star Wars

movie coming out. Enjoy the rest of