First held on Christmas Eve in 1918, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols comes from the beautiful chapel of King's College, Cambridge.

A traditional celebration of the birth of Christ in readings from the Bible and choral music, the service has always begun with the hymn Once in Royal David's City.

The service was first broadcast in 1928 and, with the exception of 1930, has been broadcast annually, even during the Second World War, when the ancient glass had been removed from the Chapel and the name of King's could not be broadcast for security reasons.