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MUSIC fans are just realising the age of singer Brenda Lee when she recorded her famous Christmas song.

Festive favourite Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree was released in 1958 and featured in Home Alone, one of the biggest movies of the 90s. 

Written by Johnny Marks, the rockabilly track Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree was recorded by Brenda in 1958 when the singer was just 13.

To this day, it remains popular and has been recorded by everyone from John Travolta to Justin Bieber.

The single entered the UK singles chart at Number 30 in its first week in November 1962, according to the Official Charts Company.

It climbed into the Top 10 and earned its original peak of Number 6 a month later.

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Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree secured its place as a festive classic after it was featured in the much-loved 1990 Christmas movie Home Alone.

In the memorable scene, Kevin McCallister – played by Macauley Kulkin – deterred would-be burglars from robbing his home by throwing a pretend Christmas party to make the house appear occupied. 

Yet when one TikToker posted a video of the song and asked what age people thought the singer was, many were stunned to discover it was recorded when Brenda was just a teenager.

One person wrote: “She sounds middle aged.”

Another fan replied: “Wait, I’m just finding this out too.”

A third person added: “Whaaattt?! I looked it up and still have a hard time believing it.”

A fourth person wrote: “Not even my dad knew and he’’s 60.”

Others who have covered Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree include teenybop heroes Hanson and Cliff Richard. 

In 1987, Kim Wilde and Mel Smith released a version of the song for Comic Relief. 

In a 2019 interview, Brenda Lee – known by her nickname Little Miss Dynamite – said that she had no knowledge as to why Marks wanted her specifically to sing it.

She told The Tennessean: “I had not had a lot of success in records, but for some reason he heard me and wanted me to do it. And I did.”

WHEN it comes to the world’s tallest Christmas tree, you might think it would be in one of the Nordic countries – but you’d be wrong.

In fact the world’s biggest living Christmas tree is right here in the UK.

In Northumberland on the National Trust Cragside Estate there is an enormous 147ft Christmas tree.

To put that into perspective, it’s around the size of a 14-storey building, or double the size of the Angel of the North.

It’s officially a Guinness World Record holder too, and this year it was awarded the title of being the ‘world’s tallest bedded Christmas tree’.

That means it’s still living rather than having been cut down.

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To be counted as a Christmas tree, the fir has to be decorated as such, so on it there are 800metres of lights, which is 1,320 multi-coloured bulbs.

And for further decoration, there are two huge purple bows measuring in at 6ft each.

With the tree being so high, these were all placed using a cherry picker.

If you’re a fan of baubles, sadly this tree doesn’t have any – but that was due to health and safety concerns if there was bad weather.

Posting the fact that its Christmas tree is now a Guinness World Record holder, the comments were flooded with support.

One wrote “Now that’s impressive! Congratulations” another added “Wow Beautiful! We love Cragside but this makes it even more special”.

The record for the tallest ever Christmas tree belongs to one put up in 1950 in Northgate Shopping Centre in Seattle in the United States.

Not bedded into the ground like the one in Cragside, the Douglas fir was a whopping 212ft tall.

The impressive Cragside tree sits on the National Trust Estate in Northumberland among the gardens.

Cragside is a pretty Victorian country estate and is famous for being the former home of inventor Lord William Armstrong.

Thanks to its owner, Cragside House is considered one of Britain’s ‘original smart homes‘.

It was the first house to be lit up by hydroelectricity – using man-made lakes to power generators for lights and phones.

Visitors can explore Cragside House and gardens during the Christmas period (November 29 to January 4, 2026) from £16.50 per adult, or £8.30 for children (ages 5-17).

Film fans will recognise Cragside after it appeared in a well-known movie franchise, Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom.

Cragside House served as the set location for Lockwood Manor, where heroes Owen (played by Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) attempt to stop a genetically engineered dinosaur from being sold at auction.

It wasn’t just the main house that appeared in the movie, Cragside Garden Cottage, found in the heart of the estate, was used as the backdrop for several scenes in the film.

The cosy cottage has three bedrooms and sleeps up to six.

It’s still available for a December booking – a three-night stay between December 8 and 11, 2025 starts from £909, which is £50.50pppn.

Next door is Cragside Park Cottage which has the same rates but a different style of decor inside.

A stay in either gets you free access to the Cragside gardens, house and woodlands.

For more on Christmas, one travel writer discovered a fairytale city that looks like it’s from a Disney movie with cosy Christmas markets and hot chocolate by the pint.

Plus, the UK Christmas market named one of Europe’s best – with over 100 stalls, live bands and a singing festive moose.

SCARLETT Moffatt has revealed that her fiancé Scott Dobinson has quit his job as a policeman to be a stay-at-home dad.

The Gogglebox star, 35, got engaged to Scott, 37, in 2023, five months after they became parents to baby son Jude. 

Scarlett has revealed that Scott has taken a two-year career hiatus to be with their son Jude, two, so she can continue her TV career.

The reality star has a host of projects she’s working on, including Strictly Come Dancing‘s Christmas Special and a Christmas pantomime. 

She told The Daily Mail: “I feel really lucky because for the first two years that Jude was born, I decided to take two years off.

“So I was just in full-time mum mode, it was the best.

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“And then when Jude turned two, I was like “okay, I need to go back into work now” so I can chat to adults, cause I missed that. 

“And also, you know, this industry’s so difficult, I knew that if I took any longer people might be like, “oh, there’s that girl that used to sometimes be on the telly”.

“So then Scott, my partner, he’s wonderful, he’s now took a two-year career break from the police.

“So he’s now in full-time dad mode, which is lovely. We’re somehow managing because of that, and we’ve got great grandparents too.”

The I’m A Celeb star also explained that she has never employed a nanny to help out with her family.

She said: “I’ve never had a nanny and he’s never been to nursery, but it’s not because I think that those things are bad or anything.

“I think we’ve just been so lucky that I’ve either been at home or he’s with my mum and dad, or Scott’s mum and dad or Scott.

“People aren’t always in that privileged position where they live like 10 minutes away from all of the family.

“I think it’s a very northern thing that we all sort of still live in the same village and stuff, but I can understand why people have ties and things.”

In an interview with The Sun earlier this year Scarlett spoke about when she and Scott are planning to tie the knot.

Scarlett said: “I’d hoping to do it next year but maybe that’s too adventurous? It takes a lot to plan a wedding, but I’ve got this in the bag.”

Just a few years ago, Scarlett admitted that she initially had dreams of a huge Willy Wonka themed wedding, but has now decided to scale back her plans.

However, in an interview before getting engaged, she once said: “I’ve always, always wanted a massive wedding, now I keep saying: ‘Let’s go to Vegas.’”

But, not everyone is happy about Scarlett’s return to TV, as a new Strictly fix has ignited due to her taking part in this year’s Christmas special.

The popular TV star was the first celeb to be announced for this year’s festive special after years of being linked to the BBC show.

However, show insiders are angry at her for taking part because she was trained by Anton Du Beke as a child.

And it is alleged she is now the favourite to win the festive glitterball due to her vast dancing history.

A Strictly insider said: “Scarlett is a trained dancer, she is so good at it and spent much of her childhood doing ballroom and Latin dancing.

“Anton even helped her and now he will be judging her against others. It all feels very unfair.”

But, despite being an early favourite, Scarlett insists she hasn’t picked up where she left off all those years ago.