Tot of the pops...

Bottle of whisky helped Noddy write Slade hit

- MIKE MERRITT

ONE of the biggest festive hits of all time began life as a "hippy trippy" song about a rocking chair until it was transformed by a bottle of Christmas spirit.

Slade's Merry Xmas Everybody shot to number one at Christmas in 1973, and half a century later still dominates the festive airwaves.

It generates an estimated £500,000 in royalties every year and is credited with starting the phenomenon of the race to be Christmas Nol.

And it all came about because of a boozy night in the Midlands home of frontman Noddy Holder's parents.

Noddy, 77, said: "The song that became Merry Xmas Everybody was written in 1967.

"It was a hippy-trippy thing and the chorus went: 'So won't you buy me a rocking chair to watch the world go by/Buy me a looking glass to look me in the eye-eye-eye..."