This may be New Year's day today, but it has only been so since 1752. I'm reading Revelation by CJ Sansom a book wot I got for Christmas and the story starts on a New Years Day during the latter part of Henry VIII's reign but the date is 25th March. Intrigued, I used the good offices of Wikipedia to discover the facts behind this:
"Most countries in Western Europe officially adopted January 1 as New Year's Day somewhat before they adopted the Gregorian calendar. The Feast of the Annunciation, March 25 (9 months before December 25), was the first day of the new year in England until the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar in 1752. The March 25th date was called Annunciation Style; the January 1 date was called Circumcision Style, because this was the date of the Feast of the Circumcision, being the eighth day counting from December 25."
Posted as a public service...

NPR in the US are streaming Sugar Mountain, Live at Cantabury House 1968 from their website http://npr.org/music on Monday November 24th at 11.59 EST (thats just shy of 7pm in the UK). It's his "new" CD and they're streaming it a week before its release. Just heard it on the NPR All Songs Considered podcast (which I commend to the massive).