THE story of St George and the Dragon is the father of our present-day pantomimes, and yet today, it is seldom seen.

The tale was known by every man, woman and child in Britain in Medieval times, when it was already well-worn.

It told the story of the Christian saint who not only fought off a fire-breathing serpent but also a Turkish knight. Behind the simple story of heroism lay the most popular theme of the festive season, the triumph of life over death.

George and the Dragon was played all over the country by bands of mummers, who would blacken their faces with soot and wear animal masks and ragged costumes. Some morris dance groups echo these once-pagan traditions today.

An essential part of the mumming tradition was audience participation, with the crowd hissing the dragon and cheering St George to victory. And that's probably where we get our robust pantomime backchat these days.

Pantos arise directly from that mumming past, but take their themes from fairy tales. Today, they are jolly, harmless stories, but the original tales spoke of fear, treachery and the triumph of good over evil in much the same way as the St George story.

Other elements of pantomime have their roots way back in Christmas history. The Dame, usually a man dressed as a woman and always the funniest character in any pantomime, harks back to ancient days when the mid-winter celebration was a topsy-turvy affair with lots of blowsy humour and surprises.

There is always a good, beautiful heroine and a prince to carry her off after much trial, tribulation and dancing.

And while the story St George was lacking in any love interest, the theme of life and rebirth is a common one at the festive season.

Parts of the pantomime come directly from the parlour games that the Victorians, from whom we have taken so much of our current-day celebration, absolutely loved.

They enjoyed to act and would often put on plays to entertain the family and guests after eating. Charades were popular too.

But in games such as Blind Man's Buff, where one person is blindfolded and has to catch the others as they tiptoe up behind him, we see pantomime echoes: "He's behind you."

Panto also takes some of its influences from the vaudeville and music hall shows that delighted audiences in the first half of the last century.

And while many would hesitate to call pantomime an art form, it's true it is one of the most popular forms of live entertainment in the world, easily holding its own against more high-brow forms such as ballet and opera.

This Christmas pantomimes will be seen by tens of thousands of people young and old, with many of the top shows running from the beginning of December until well into the middle of January.

And they will all be having a jolly holly good time. Oh yes they will.