For many families, a visit to a pantomime over the Christmas period has equal importance to the Christmas celebrations as the Christmas Tree, Christmas Pudding and the kiss under the mistletoe. For may children, the panto is likely to be their first visit to the theatre, be it one of the professional productions that appear at many theatres or the one of the thousands of amateur productions that take place in many towns and cities across the nation. They will expect to find the traditional elements of cross dressing, audience participation, song, dance and comedy. Lost to most will be the history and surprising background to this typically English form of entertainment whose beginnings can be traced back many centuries to other parts of Europe. All will be revealed in this informative and entertaining talk illustrated with many slides.