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christmas

Singing sheep bid for Xmas number one

BAARMY: A singing sheep

The Lake District's "Baarmy Sheep" hope their take on the classic festive hit will beat rivals to the Christmas number one.

The Crazy Frog is one of the hot tips for top slot with a rendition of Jingle Bells, which got its first airplay today.

But, with a bit of help from the Cumbria Tourist Board, the sheep have launched a pre-emptive strike and made their version available to download a day earlier.

Tourist board chairman Eric Robson said: "Christmas may be the season of goodwill to all men, but not Crazy Frogs.

"Visitors from all over the world love the Lake District and our sheep, so we're confident people will prefer our version.

"Who knows, a break in Cumbria - the Lake District - might be the only place to escape the Crazy Frog and the stress of Christmas this year."

Bleatings

The brains behind the Baarmy Sheep is 27-year-old record producer Charley Darbishire, who recorded the bleatings of sheep from his friend's farm in Pennington and mixed them with Jingle Bells to create the hit.

Mr Darbishire, from Ulverston, first took on the Crazy Frog in June this year with a ringtone rendition of Jerusalem - a response to the cartoon's domination of television, airwaves and mobile phones.

The new single and sheep pop video can be downloaded free from the Cumbria Tourist Board website at www.golakes.co.uk/xmasbaarmysheep.

A tourist board spokesman said: "No-one wants to see the Crazy Frog at number one this Christmas.

"This is just a bit of fun, but if enough people download it someone like Itunes will have to recognise us as in the running for top slot."