The Sun is to publish an exclusive iPad Christmas Day edition - the first time the newspaper would have been published on 25 December in its 41-year history.

In the UK the national newspapers have an agreement not to produce a print-copy of their papers, but The Sun is going digital to buck the trend.

"Throughout The Sun’s 41-year history we have always respected the agreement among newspaper publishers in not publishing a Christmas Day edition of The Sun", said Dominic Mohan, the paper's editor. 

"However, this year we have seen dramatic innovations in the way that we deliver news to our readers and couldn’t resist the opportunity to break with tradition and produce this dazzling digital edition of the paper - direct to readers' sofas on Christmas Day".

The Christmas Day edition will include an exclusive message from John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York. Mohan said: "As the world changes around us, it has never been more important to take time to reflect on the year gone by, as well as look forward to the future. I hope his words will give our readers the chance to do just that".

Indeed. And if they don't want to do that there's always a nice pair to look at on Page 3.

The Sun iPad app is a free app, where you pay a subscription (£4.99 per month) to download the paper daily. From 22 December there is a 30-day free trial, so you can take a look at the Christmas Day edition yourself without spending a penny.