fairy lights (Q37394)
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No description defined
- Christmas tree lights
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | fairy lights | No description defined |
|
Statements
Dating back 135 years, it was at the Savoy Theatre in London that the term ‘fairy lights’ was first coined.Opened in 1881, the Savoy was the first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity, fitted out with 1,200 incandescent light bulbs created by North East inventor Sir Joseph Swan.A year later, Swan was commissioned by the theatre’s owner - Richard D'Oyly Carte - to create miniature lights to adorn the dresses of the lead fairies on the opening night of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe.The show opened to critical acclaim and led to dresses adorned with lights powered by small battery packs hidden beneath the folds of the cloth becoming the must-have fashion accessory of high society ladies.And a year later Edward Johnson, a colleague of Swan’s US rival Sir Thomas Edison, became the first person to put fairy lights on a Christmas tree – a publicity stunt which would become a global, Christmas tradition. (English)
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