As we get closer to Christmas, many people will be heading out to the shops to look for the perfect presents. And this mad dash in search of festive gifts is nothing new. In this episode, Annie Gray, author of The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker: A History of the High Street, takes Emily Briffett on a tour of our historical festive spending habits, from the horrors of visiting a Victorian butcher's shop to enormous seasonal turkey parades and outrageous stunts involving elephants.

(Ad) Annie Gray is the author of The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker: A History of the High Street (Profile Books, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bookshop-Draper-Candlestick-Maker-History/dp/1800812248/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty.

Annie Gray takes listeners on a shopping trip through the history of Britain's high streets: https://link.chtbl.com/kTqN1EaD.

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.

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