Striking gold on my Black Friday treasure hunt

UNLESS you have been living under a rock, you will know it is Black Friday this week.

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Once a purely American institution, the discount shopping bonanza has been well and truly adopted by we Brits, and while we no longer see dust-ups over widescreen TVs in supermarket aisles, it has become as much a part of the festive run-up as the unveiling of the John Lewis Christmas advert.

Despite consumer experts insisting that many Black Friday deals are not quite as good as they seem, Nationwide predicts more than 260 million transactions will take place throughout November leading up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, with consumers expected to spend £123 on average, according to the building society.