Black Friday is the name given to the day after Thanksgiving in America, and has long been the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season. To drive sales, many American retailers launch big deals on this day, making it the country's busiest shopping day.
The term Black Friday was coined in the 1950s by American police, to describe the chaos caused in cities by the sheer volume of shoppers out trying to bag a bargain.
Here in the UK, Black Friday was originally the name given to the Friday before Christmas by the emergency services! In recent years, and particularly since 2014, many UK retailers have followed the example of their American counterparts, offering huge discounts during this period.
