The well deserved best selling single of all time – or sentimental claptrap? Michael Alexander examines the appeal of Bing Crosby’s White Christmas which was first performed 75 years ago this Christmas.
If you are dreaming of a White Christmas, then the chances are you will be disappointed.
Following in the wake of Storm Barbara, weather forecasters are predicting record-breaking mild conditions for Christmas Day with any snowfall likely to be limited to the mountains.
But that won’t stop people conjuring up a romanticised view of an old-fashioned Christmas – which is exactly what inspired the Bing Crosby version of the classic song White Christmas which was first performed publicly 75 years ago this Christmas Day.

Jewish-American songwriter Irving Berlin –also famous for writing God Bless America – is believed to have written White Christmas in 1940 whilst staying in the warmth of a Hollywood hotel.
He reputedly told his secretary: “Grab your pen and take down this song. I just wrote the best song I’ve ever written — heck, I just wrote the best song that anybody’s ever written!”