You know it’s Christmas when your aunt Helen is tipsy on prosecco miming the tragic events of the Titanic in your front room. That’ll be Charades, the 18th-century parlour game invented by the French and embraced by Victorian Britain as a slice of after-dinner entertainment.

J.M. Barrie, Charlotte Bronté and H.G. Wells were all fans of charades, the latter even dressed in a white sheet and moved up and down the room to symbolise “God moving in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform.” Maybe stick to books next time, Herbert.

Originally, charades were riddles like these, where each syllable of the answer was described enigmatically as a separate word. Eventually, the game evolved to become ‘acting Charades’, a mime game where only non-verbal communication is allowed.