Remarkable new high-tech images reveal the face of the real-life bishop who inspired the concept of Santa Claus — more than 1,700 years after he first made Christmas merry and bright.

Fewer people, though, know about Saint Nicholas, the real-life person that inspired this modern-day mythological figure. Like Santa Claus ... and the rest is history. The scene has subsequently ...

"This story in particular, it really kind of humanised him for me and made him a far more interesting character than I think he's normally portrayed," says University of Winchester's Brian Thornton.

The fact that the first citation appeared in New York is not unusual, given New York’s history ... called Santa claus − of all the saints in the kalendar the most venerated by true hollanders ...