Letter: On the first day after Christmas. . .

Sir: Throughout the 'Gazette' section of your Christmas Eve issue, you referred to Sunday 26 December as Boxing Day. As far as I know, Boxing Day has never fallen on a Sunday; was something different this year?

My dictionary explains that Boxing Day is the first weekday after Christmas. It presumably has to be a trading day so that we can follow tradition and distribute Christmas 'boxes' to traders and their staff. The compilers of your Christmas TV and radio guide seem to have understood this. They call 26 December Christmas Sunday; Boxing Day is the 27th.

With the Sunday trading laws about to change, we may all feel differently about Boxing Day the next time Christmas Day falls on a Saturday (1999). Were you anticipating this?

Yours faithfully,

ROGER HUGHES

London, NW3

28 December