Christmas cracker as rival varieties came on the market. The other elements of the modern cracker—the gifts, paper hats and varied designs—were all introduced by Tom Smith's son, Walter Smith, to differentiate his product from the rival cracker manufacturers which had suddenly sprung up. Tom Smith merged with Caley Crackers in 1953. A memorial water fountain to Tom Smith and his family stands in Finsbury Square, London. The longest Christmas cracker pulling chain consisted of 1081 people and was achieved by The Harrodian School in Barnes, London, UK, on 10 December 2015. Passengers on commercial flights in the United States are explicitly
Tom Smith (playwright) Tom Smith (playwright) Tom Smith (born in 1969 in Rochelle, Illinois) is an American playwright, theatre director, and professor of theatre arts. Originally trained as an improvisational comedian, Smith founded Walla Walla TheatreSports in 1988. Smith's published plays include "Drinking Habits", "Drinking Habits 2: Caught in the Act", "The Odyssey", "The Pathmaker", "A Christmas Carol", "Dangerous" (a contemporary gay treatment of Les Liaisons Dangereuses), "Gray", and "Marguerita's Secret Diary" in addition to edited versions of "Much Ado About Nothing", "The Comedy of Errors", "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" and "Love's Labours Lost". Additionally, he has many plays published by YouthPLAYS,