‘Christmas was the best time of my father's life!'

This week’s columnist: Broadcaster Sir Michael Parkinson

''What I remember about childhood Christmases is the warmth of the family around. We lived in a two-up, two-down house in Barnsley, and it always had about 48 people in it at Christmas. It seemed to last continuously as a party for about two weeks! My father loved Christmas and loved parties, and that was the best time of his life.

We used to have a collective pig at Christmas, which everyone in our street – about 20 people – would put money into a pot to buy, and it was kept in a pen in an allotment. Obviously, you can get quite fond of a pig, but you can’t walk it around on a lead. So when it came to Christmas, we’d have to have it slaughtered by the local gamekeeper and would eat pork for Christmas.