Christmas cracker tradition of wearing festive hats is believed to date back to Roman times and the Saturnalia celebrations, which also involved decorative headgear. Christmas crackers are also associated with Knut's parties, held in Sweden at the end of the Christmas season. The "Oxford English Dictionary" records the use of "cracker bonbons" and the pulling of "crackers" from 1847. Tradition tells of how Tom Smith of London invented crackers in 1847. He created the crackers as a development of his bon-bon sweets, which he sold in a twist of paper (the origins of the traditional sweet-wrapper). As sales of bon-bons slumped, Smith
Tom and Matt Smith Tom and Matt Smith Tom Smith (along with son Matt Smith) are father and son jazz musicians best known for their work in the United States, Eastern Europe and China. Tom Smith (father) is a long time American university jazz professor, trombonist, researcher, wind symphony conductor, program creator and multiple Senior Fulbright Professor of Music at the Romanian National University of Music and Tibiscus University, with Senior Fulbright Professional Specialist appointments at University KwaZulu-Natal (Durban, South Africa) and the Serbian Academy of Music in Belgrade, as well as numerous American high school and community college positions, alongside an extended professorship