This figure later became confused with Santa Claus and they are now considered one and the same. Santa, however, came to Britain from America, where he was introduced by Dutch immigrants. Their "Sinter Klaas" was Saint Nicholas, a Bishop of Myra in fourth century Lycia (in Asia Minor), famed for acts of kindness. see www.stnicholascenter.org

richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK