THE North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is a United States and Canada bi-national organisation charged with the missions of aerospace warning and aerospace control for North America. Or, to put it in layman’s terms, that huge multi-billion dollar defence installation, embedded deep in the granite heart of Cheyenne Mountain in The Rockies, which we normally only see portrayed in Hollywood movies as harbouring rogue super computers.

Housed 600m (2,000 feet) within the heart of the mountain, it’s two 25-ton blast doors have been built to withstand a multimegaton nuclear blast. And, believe it or not, for millions of children across the world, including those in Oxford, it’s a by-word for Christmas.

For more than 50 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa’s flight.

This extraordinary tradition began in 1955 after a newspaper advertisement for children to call Santa misprinted the telephone number. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put youngsters through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief’s operations “hotline.”

The Director of Operations at that time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole and thus, a tradition was born...

In 1958, when NORAD was formed, this custom was continued and since then NORAD’s military staff have volunteered their time to personally respond to phone calls and emails from children across the globe.

But trust me, click onto the NORAD tracks Santa site – www.noradsanta.org Last year, I sent a deliberately mis-spelt email to ask if Santa’s reindeer would be fit enough for their round-the-world flight and within 10 minutes received a reply from some Major in the American Air Force, reassuring me that all of the reindeer were very excited to get started.

I mean, seriously, getting an email from an Air Force Major buried deep in NORAD – how cool is that?

But best of all, check out the site’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and this question in particular: Do your planes ever intercept Santa? Answer: ‘Over the past 50 years, our fighter jets (F-16s, F-15s, F-22s and CF-18s) have intercepted Santa many, many times. When the jets intercept Santa, they tip their wings to say, “Hello Santa! – NORAD is tracking you again this year!” Santa always waves. He loves to see the pilots!’ So if you want to find out how Santa’s doing noradtrackssanta@gmail.com A NORAD staff member will give you Santa’s last known location in a return email. Who says there’s no such thing as magic?