Positive view of Christmas

Almost everyone was looking forward to the yuletide event, with the main high spots being seeing friends and relatives (76 per cent), eating and drinking (14 per cent), going to church (seven per cent) and watching the Queen's speech on TV (three per cent).

Almost 90 per cent of the 100 people questioned planned to get together with relatives over the holiday, in four cases out of five because they wanted to rather than because they felt they had to.

Asked which of 10 named celebrities they would like to share Christmas with, David Beckham was the top choice, followed by the Queen, Tony Blair, Kylie Minogue and Victoria Wood.

Iain Duncan Smith, Geri Halliwell and Victoria Beckham were at the bottom of the list.

However, when asked which of the same list of celebrities they would not like to celebrate with, Tony Blair came off worst.

Said spokesman John Kay: 'He seemed to excite strong opinions in both directions.

'Most people planned to spend Christmas morning either at home or with relatives, with attending church and going to work about equally balanced as minority alternatives.

'Asked who they thought Jesus was, just over 30 per cent said they believed he was God's son sent to earth to save us, and 58 per cent that he was just a good man, with the balance of 10 per cent holding negative opinions.'

Asked how much they expected to spend on Christmas this year, 30 per cent said less than 200, 55 per cent between 200 and 500, 10 per cent between 500 and 1000 and just three per cent more than 1,000.