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 Baker Slater, who had directed Baker in a "Play of the Month" production of Shaw's play "The Millionairess". Impressed by Baker upon meeting him, Letts then became convinced he was right for the part after seeing his performance in "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad". Baker was working on a construction site at the time, as acting jobs were scarce. Initially he was dubbed "Boiler Suit Tom" by the media because he had been supplied for a press conference with some old studio set clothes to replace his modest garments. Baker quickly made the part his own, viewing figures for his first