“In operas, if you have a double aria, it's what the woman does that really matters. The man lies, the woman tells the truth": The story of Fairytale Of New York

Portrait of British musician Kirsty MacColl (1959 - 2000) and Irish musician Shane MacGowan, the latter of the group the Pogues, as they pose together, each holding a toy gun with one hand and, in the other, a Christmas cracker over an inflatable Santa Claus, 1987.

It’s one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time and the complete antithesis of everything that a festive single should traditionally be. Instead of reindeers and robins the central characters are a scathing, embittered couple whose growing sense of loathing is wholly at odds with the concept of festive goodwill. It’s an intoxicating song in which pathos and disenchantment are offset by sheer swagger and hope. Four decades on from its creation, the song remains as rousing and irresistible as the day it was released.

The origins of the song are murky. The Pogues singer Shane MacGowan always maintained that it was the result of a wager with the band’s then-producer, Elvis Costello, who allegedly bet the band they couldn’t write a Christmas single.