Thousands of school pupils from across Scotland have joined Santa for a live video interview.

In his third annual appearance on Glow TV, the Scottish schools intranet service, he answered questions and led children in Christmas songs.

The webcast, beamed live from Stonehouse Primary School in South Lanarkshire, enabled pupils gathered in assemblies and classrooms at 84 primary schools, to pose questions.

Pupils from as far afield as New Elgin in Moray and Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway quizzed Santa on life at the North Pole. He said: "Sometimes polar bears wander in for a chat over a cup of tea." And he explained that although elves were mostly hardworking, "we do find the odd one asleep in a cupboard. I found one in my welly boot this morning!"