Oxford Street, a main shopping street in Central London, has been decorated with various festive lights for many Christmas celebrations since 1959. They have been a regular and popular feature of Christmas in London.

The lights were originally installed in response to nearby Regent Street, which had featured Christmas lights since 1954. The lights were paid by shop owners and the local council, and were installed in order to give a sense of occasion to shoppers that could not be found anywhere else. The tradition fell out of favour by the early 1970s because of the economic climate, and no lights were featured for several years. It returned in the 1980s following campaigning from local traders.

Since 2010, management of the lights has been undertaken by Field and Lawn, a marquee hire company who also installed the Regent Street lights. Around 750,000 bulbs are used annually. Current practice involves a celebrity turning the lights on in mid- to late-November, and the lights remain until 6 January (Twelfth Night). The position of turning the lights on can be considered as an aspiration, and an indication that a particular celebrity is very popular. The festivities were postponed in 1963 due to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In 2015, the lights were switched on earlier, on Sunday 1 November, resulting in an unusual closure of the street to all traffic. In 2018, there was not a celebrity guest at the light switch on and instead several performers played at various stores along the street.

The following celebrities have turned on the lights since 1981:

1980s 1981 — Pilín León (Miss World, Venezuela) 1982 — Daley Thompson 1983 — Pat Phoenix 1984 — Esther Rantzen 1985 — Bob Geldof 1986 — Leslie Grantham, Anita Dobson 1987 — Derek Jameson 1988 — Terry Wogan 1989 — Gorden Kaye

1990s 1990 — Cliff Richard 1991 — Westminster Children's Hospital 1992 — Linford Christie 1993 — Richard Branson 1994 — Lenny Henry 1995 — Coronation Street cast 1996 — Spice Girls 1997 — Peter Andre 1998 — Zoë Ball 1999 — Ronan Keating

2000s

2000 — Charlotte Church 2001 — S Club 7 2002 — Blue 2003 — Enrique Iglesias 2004 — Emma Watson, Il Divo, Steve Redgrave 2005 — Madonna 2006 — All Saints 2007 — Leona Lewis 2008 — Sugababes 2009 — Jim Carrey

2010s

2010 — Children from Kids Company 2011 — The Saturdays 2012 — Robbie Williams 2013 — Jessie J 2014 — Cheryl Fernandez-Versini 2015 — Kylie Minogue 2016 — Craig David 2017 — Rita Ora, Vick Hope & Roman Kemp 2018 — N/A

2020 - Mia & Amalia Corsi 2020 - Gareth Eighteen

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