Few things have the status of a national event in Britain these days. Christmas is one, a Royal Wedding is another, but the altogether more surprising event that has captured the attention of the nation occurs but twice a year.
The international football transfer deadline day comes about - usually - on the last day of August and the last day of January and has permeated our newspapers, television channels and social media accounts, offering round the clock coverage on whether Hartlepool have signed that 19-year-old left-back on loan from Doncaster.
But one television station and more specifically one man have made transfer deadline day what it is. Jim White, the sprightly grey-haired bundle of deadline day energy from north of the border spreads his charm throughout the Sky Sports studio. He's joined by one of Sky's robotic uber babes on one side and Andy Burton - armed with twitchy eyebrows and an even twitchier mobile phone - on the other side.
The three of them, however, don't do all this hard graft alone. We have Vinny O'Connor, a man resembling a common garden gnome, pitched up outside Manchester City's stadium, usually accompanied by a splashing of energetic Mancs with tea-towel's wrapped around their heads. We have the inimitable David Craig shacked up in the north east, indulging us in the movements of Mike Ashley's breasts and - new to this year - we have perma-sleepy Brian Swanson marching us into the new age whilst moving his chubby fingers around the Sky pad to tell us that the total transfer spend this window has reached £499,993,29394,92939323 trillion pounds and an onion bhaji (presumably for Jon Parkin).
Whilst it's easy to mock Sky and their now cliché-ridden coverage of the day's events, it's hard to imagine a transfer deadline day without Jim White's light Scottish tones and Andy Burton's overactive Nokia 3310. They have revolutionised the way fans, writers and players approach the day's proceedings, making the final hours of the window a source of unrestricted excitement for all those wondering if their club have finally managed to do a bit of business.
Of course, it's not just Sky that have made the deadline day what it is. Special mentions must go out to the BBC Sport website, the club's themselves, and Harry Redknapp's car window.
Aunty Beeb adds to the Jim White experience by plugging fan's posts into their rolling web coverage of the event, making everyone aware that for the fifth time in six years "Klaus-Jan Huntelaar has been spotted at Manchester airport."
Whilst the club's themselves, most of whom moaned when the deadline was brought into being, continually save their most exciting business until the last day of the season. Like your grumpy 43-year-old Uncle who still can't sleep on Christmas Eve, the experience takes a hold of even the most sober managers and chairmen.
And then we have good old 'Arry, winding down the car window of his Merc to give us sound bites on "the boys Crouchy and Pav, you know?" If there's one manager who embraces all the things we love about transfer deadline day then it's 'Arry. But accuse him of being a wheeler-dealer at your peril.
Taking all this into account, if anybody needs me you'll find me logged into Twitter, on the BBC Sport website and watching Sky Sports News. To quote Harry, it's usually a "top, top" day.