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I've just found out that Americans have the Irish to thank for jack-o'-lanterns. The faces were originally carved into hollowed-out turnips, but when the Irish got to America, they found a larger vegetable to use - the pumpkin.

Halloween was never that big in the UK when I was growing up. That was partly because we already celebrated Guy Fawkes Night on November 5th. Kids would use papier-mâché heads made on balloons and old clothes stuffed with newspapers to make effigies of Guy Fawkes, which would be dragged around on go-karts while they asked "Penny for the Guy". The effigies would then be burned on a bonfire on November 5th, accompanied by a fireworks display. The public displays still go on, and some replace Guy Fawkes with an effigy of a topical bad guy (e.g. a politician). Believe it or not, the Irish don't share the British tradition of burning an effigy of a Catholic! Also, buying and selling fireworks for private use is technically illegal here, although it's apparently very easy to drive across the border to Northern Ireland and bring some back. I was up there a year ago, and you don't have to go very far over the border before you see big signs advertising fireworks for sale. Over the past couple of decades, Halloween has become a much bigger event in both the UK and Ireland. It's very much the Americanized (note that I've Americanized the spelling of Americanised!) version of the celebrations with pumpkins and trick or treat, neither of which figured in the celebrations when I was young, even though they showed "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" on TV .

April 1 is Sadie Hogg Day in Hazzard. How big is Halloween over there?

Charlie has a book that has just come out about his life. The last time I was this excited about a new book it was by Ben Jones.