Channel History Hit

This is the THIRD of our special Christmas-themed micro-histories in which we will embrace the task of demonstrating how an unexpected subject not only has a history but is massively important and interesting - in just 15 minutes! We will start with a shared example and then have just five minutes each to make a case for an interesting history on that very unexpected subject. Contributions will be rigorously timed and you - dear listeners - will get to vote on SM on what YOU think was the most interesting fact you heard today.Today’s topic is SHOES - nothing quite says Christmas like shoes! - Shoes were not simply a noxious deterrent for evil sprites at Christmas time, but a precursor to the now customary stockings as receptacles for yuletide gifts. Earlier depictions of St Nicholas associate him with dropping gold coins down the chimney, which in sixteenth-century Holland similarly led to the tradition of children placing their shoes on the hearth on the eve of the Feast of St Nicholas, awaking in the m