There are some quite significant differences between traditional nativity scenes and the Biblical record of Jesus's birth. "Wise men" are mentioned in only Matthew's gospel and while there were three gifts - gold, frankincense and myrrh - he does not state how many wise men there were, or when they arrived. It is unlikely, for example, that the group, guided by a star to a "house", ever met the shepherds called to the manger. And despite what numerous primary school version would suggest, no one, not even Judean shepherds, wore an actual tea towel.
Still, compared to the Madame Tussauds version, the primary school scenes are surely close to what it was like being there that night in Bethlehem. The Tussauds celebrity Nativity – its treatment in the press excellently dissected by Bloggerhead - featured Kylie Minogue as the angel of the Lord and led Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the head of the Roman Catholic church in England and Wales, to attack its "disrespectful" treatment of the subject.
For the moment it is no more. A man in his 20s repeatedly punched the Mary and Joseph figures – David and Victoria Beckham – and caused sufficient damage for the exhibition to be closed. He fled into the street so we do not know if he was motivated by religious feeling or, like a deranged Beatles fan who has always had it in for Yoko Ono, blamed David for the break-up of the Spice Girls. Of course, there is always the chance he thought they were real.
