German viewers received a grim reminder yesterday of how big a turn-off Christmas can be when a man was found sitting in front of his television set - five years after his death at Christmas.
Although his TV was no longer working, the German tradition of Vorsprung durch Technik found expression in the man's Christmas tree, still twinkling when landlords entered his flat in Hamburg this week.
Wolfgang Dircks was a divorced, disabled loner who had reportedly threatened to whip anyone who asked after him. His neighbours kept their distance and, when he died in 1993 aged 43, nobody noticed.
"Someone said once he had gone off to a home, I didn't ask any more," said Monika Majarres, from the same block of flats. The landlord came knocking only after the bank account from which Herr Dirck's bills were paid ran dry.
Beside the broken television set and the still twinkling tree they found his skeleton - his TV listings magazine still on his lap and open on the page for December 5th, 1993.
Nobody has lain undiscovered so long after their death in Germany in recent years, although a 55-year-old man who had been dead for four years was found in front of his television in Brandenburg earlier this year.
Germany's TV schedules are notoriously soporific but investigators are not certain what Herr Dircks was watching when he died. Although the TV set did not survive as long as the flashing Christmas tree, it could well have been running for more than a year after the death of its owner.
During that time, he would have missed such favourites as Traumhochzeit (Dream Wedding), a version of Blind Date which ends with a couple getting married on top of an enormous cake, as well as Germany's much loved three-hour chat shows.
