I had hoped to last until the middle of December. I was not expecting miracles of reaching the 23rd of December and only then hearing the 1984 classic on the radio or some PA system. It is therefore, with great regret and a heavy heart I report on Saturday 2nd December at approximately 14:35 local time I heard Wham! – Last Christmas. I was out! It has been four years and I am unable to confirm if I always remember to post and record the moment on Twitter. Therefore, I thought it was important to capture this moment on my blog as entries are so sparse. You can even go back to when it all began and who put me up to the challenge in the first place.

Where was I, when I failed in the annual festive music game? I was grocery shopping in Sainsbury’s Maidenhead town centre, while my dearest wife and young boys were enjoying a Christmas performance of Miki up the road at Norden Farm Arts Centre.

People always ask me for my favourite Christmas song. This is not an easy question to answer and I sometimes (as a knee-jerk reaction) just give a cheesy response. The reality it is difficult to pick a single track. I tend to pick songs that you would have no issue listening to in the other eleven months of the year. While for some the song Wonderful Dream may be tainted as it is associated with a soft drink manufacturer, I love the song and the memories it instantly evokes. Alongside hearing Last Christmas, seeing those world-famous red and white Coca-Cola trucks arrive on our television screen signalled well and truly that Christmas had arrived.

A mere hour and ten minutes later, over 90 minutes drive away a DJ took out 7,215 spectators at a football match. I do of course take into account that not all of those supporters will have been taken part.

The only question remaining is how long, he of Dave Chats Games fame will last.

It does feel like some poetic justice that 39 years after release Wham! finally reached Christmas Number One spot the same year I dropped out of Whamageddon at the earliest possible opportunity. Having been around just a few short years longer than the song itself, it has always surprised me it has never been number one previously – when you consider that the 1980s (in the UK at least) were the peak for Christmas pop songs.