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Britain’s Christmas lights switch-ons have delivered another vintage year of feedback squeals, forgotten names and accidental innuendo. We rank the 2026 speeches that turned local civic duty into viral comedy.
From magnificent wrong answers to passes delivered like Shakespearean soliloquies, 2026 has been a vintage year for quiz-show chaos. We hand out grades to the contestants who turned teatime telly into performance art.
Banks, councils and broadband providers have spent 2026 refining the art of the automated apology. We rank the hold music loops, menu voices and sax solos that make up Britain's most punishing endurance sport — and identify the jaunty new trend of messages written like they came from a hostage negotiator.
Pick a trolley, add a weird essential and one impulse buy, and our wholly unscientific 2026 quiz will reveal the tabloid headline a British celebrity would wake up to. No actual celebrities were harmed; several meal deals were.
The 2026 festive ad season has barely started and our brains are already full of sleigh bells, sad indie covers and one inexplicably funky crisp jingle. Here is our scientifically dubious ranking of the year's most persistent UK Christmas advert soundtracks, plus a quiz to see if you can match the earworm to the campaign.