Our favourite carol
A tune written to tide over a midnight mass after mice had put a church organ out of action was today named the nation's favourite Christmas carol.
Silent Night - which was first translated into English in 1863 - topped the annual poll for radio station Classic FM.
It pushed last year's winner In The Bleak Midwinter into second spot in a countdown to be broadcast by the station's Jane Jones on Christmas Day from noon.
Silent Night was written - legend has it - after mice nibbled through the bellows of the organ at St Nicholas Church in the Austrian village of Obendorf.
With no time to fix the instrument for the midnight mass on Christmas Eve, the priest Father Joseph Moir, wrote a poem, Stille Nacht Heilige Nacht, which was arranged for choir and guitar.
It was performed that night for the first time and later became so popular that the King of Prussia, Frederick Wilhelm IV, demanded it was sung throughout the kingdom at Christmas pageants and services.
More than 70,000 listeners took part in the Classic FM poll. Station boss Roger Lewis said: "Silent Night is the sound of Christmas for young and old alike."
Top 10 favourites:
- 1. Silent Night
- 2. In The Bleak Midwinter
- 3. O Holy Night
- 4. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
- 5. O Come, All Ye Faithful
- 6. Coventry Carol
- 7. O Come, O Come Emmanuel
- 8. Once in Royal David's City
- 9. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
- 10. O Little Town of Bethlehem
