The polls will open for the assembly election on Thursday - and it will be some time before the first results of the night are declared.

But like any election, while some seats are considered safe for the party defending them, others may be more likely to change hands.
Here, BBC Wales lists 11 assembly seats where there is a threat to the party that is defending it - either on the basis of previous assembly results, or what happened at the UK general election.
Keep an eye on these contests - not all 11 will switch, but how the parties do in them will be a good indication of the kind of night they are having.
Why is this seat interesting? Aberconwy is held by the Tories' Janet Finch Saunders but is a three way marginal which was Plaid Cymru's between 2007 and 2011. Plaid in 2011 came 1,567 votes short of winning, with Labour only around 110 votes behind them.
If Plaid has a decent night at the polls, this could be a seat the party wins back.
But, given Guto Bebb won the Westminster seat here in 2015 with a majority of 3,999, if the Tories have a good night in north Wales it could be a difficult task for Plaid.
It is also not totally outlandish to think Labour could leapfrog Plaid and snatch the seat, based on 2011 figures.
Estimated declaration time: 03:00 BST
Find out who is standing and the results here.
Why is this seat interesting? Losing Brecon and Radnorshire would be a big psychological blow for the Welsh Liberal Democrats, leaving the party without leader Kirsty Williams.
Ms Williams' party has a fight on its hands to defend the seat, which she held with a majority of 2,757 in 2011, after the Tories' Chris Davies beat former Lib Dem MP Roger Williams by 5,000 votes last year.
If she can defend it, the result may show the Welsh party still has a future in its Powys heartland.
If the Tories fail to win, questions may be raised over whether the publicity over the controversial selection of Tory challenger Gary Price damaged his party's chances.
Estimated declaration time: 03:00 BST
Find out who is standing and the results here.
Why is this seat interesting? On paper Cardiff Central is the assembly's most marginal seat.
In 2011, the Liberal Democrats lost by just 38 votes to Labour.
Despite the maths, it has since become assumed knowledge that this is safe territory for the incumbent candidate Jenny Rathbone, especially given the 2015 result where the party's Jo Stevens won with a majority of 4,981.
But that has not stopped the Liberal Democrats from bombarding the area with literature in a bid to win Cardiff Central again - something that would be a massive confidence boost for the Lib Dems.
The Lib Dems' Eluned Parrott, who is also standing on the South Wales Central list, is challenging Labour's Jenny Rathbone here.
Estimated declaration time: 05:00 BST
Find out who is standing and the results here.
Why is this seat interesting? Cardiff North is one of several Labour-Tory fights in south and north east Wales which will be watched closely to see if the Conservatives can repeat last year's UK general election successes.
Labour's hopes to win back Cardiff North at Westminster were dashed when new Conservative candidate Craig Williams boosted his party's majority from 194 to 2,137.
Julie Morgan, the area's former Labour MP, is defending the assembly constituency against Rhiwbina Tory councillor Jayne Cowan. Both are well-known locally.
Estimated declaration time: 05:00 BST
Find out who is standing and the results here.
Why is this seat interesting? Delyn will be a test of whether the Conservatives can translate last year's Westminster win in neighbouring Vale of Clwyd into a wider set of victories, and whether adverse publicity on public services in north Wales will hurt Labour at the ballot box.
The Tories' are targeting it together with a group of other North Wales seats, and are hoping they can overturn Labour's assembly majority of 2,881.
This Labour-held seat is being defended by a new candidate, Hannah Blythyn. She faces Tory challenger Huw Williams.
Estimated declaration time: 02:30 BST
Find out who is standing and the results here.
Why is this seat interesting? Despite its marginal status, the Conservatives' May 2015 win in Gower was a shock to many.
The constituency had been held at Westminster by Labour for more than a century, but the Tories snatched it by a margin of just 27 votes.
After the election, there were suggestions that Labour only realised it might lose Gower to the Tories the night before it happened.
The question will be whether Labour has done enough to get the party's vote out this time around, and stop history repeating itself.
Labour's candidate is deputy farming minster Rebecca Evans, who has moved to the seat from the Mid and West Wales regional list seat, after Edwina Hart decided to stand down. She defends an assembly majority of 4,864. She faces Conservative candidate Lyndon Jones.
Estimated declaration time: 03:00 BST
Find out who is standing and the results here.
Why is this seat interesting? In the seats where Plaid Cymru could feasibly beat Labour, Llanelli is the tightest contest.
In the 2011 election, Plaid Cymru's Helen Mary Jones was beaten by Labour's Keith Davies by just 80 votes.
Ms Jones is standing for Plaid again, but this time Institute of Welsh Affairs director Lee Waters is fighting for Labour.
If Plaid win, it will mark the return to the Senedd of one of the party's most senior figures. If Labour win, the party will get an AM who has been highly critical of the Welsh Government in the past, and has promised not to be a "nodding dog".
You can read more about Llanelli in our seat profile.
Estimated declaration time: 02:30 BST
Find out who is standing and the results here.
Why is this seat interesting? Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood is defending her place on the South Wales Central list, but she is also hoping to unseat public services minister Leighton Andrews.
And it is a tough battle for Ms Wood. She faces the task of overturning Mr Andrews' majority of 6,739.
Winning Rhondda would be a coup for Plaid Cymru, giving the party a foothold beyond the party's heartlands, while also depriving the Labour assembly group of a senior figure.
Plaid held Rhondda between 1999 and 2003 in the first term of the assembly. But is the scale of the challenge too much in 2016?
Estimated declaration time: 05:00 BST
Find out who is standing and the results here.
Why is this seat interesting? Like the Gower, the Vale of Clwyd is another Tory win from the general election that the party will be hoping to replicate.
And like Gower, it was won on a knife-edge with a margin of 237 votes.
Labour's Ann Jones is defending the seat she has held since the inception of the assembly, and a majority of 4,011. She faces the Conservatives' Sam Rowlands.
Local issues have played a major part in the north Wales campaign, especially those surrounding Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.
The area's Ysbyty Glan Clwyd has been the subject of a number of negative headlines - it remains to be seen whether voters will treat the election as a referendum on the performance of public services.
Estimated declaration time: 02:30 BST
Find out who is standing and the results here.
Why is this seat interesting? Vale of Glamorgan is another Labour-Tory marginal that the Conservatives hold at Westminster level and would like to win at the assembly too.
If they pull it off, the Conservatives would rob Labour of a senior Welsh Government minister - Jane Hutt who holds the finance portfolio.
Ms Hutt is defending a majority of 3,775, and faces Conservative challenger Ross England.
Estimated declaration time: 05:00 BST
Find out who is standing and the results here.
Why is this seat interesting? Wrexham is one of several Conservative targets in north east Wales and another potential ministerial scalp for the party.
Lesley Griffiths, communities and tackling poverty minister, held on to Wrexham at the last election with a majority of 3,337.
But it is the UK general election result that has made this seat interesting.
Labour kept Wrexham, but with a reduced majority of 1,831 with the Tories coming second.
The Conservatives have never held Wrexham at any level. Will UK Tories woes prevent a shock result, or could this red through-and-through seat turn blue?
Estimated declaration time: 03:00 BST
Find out who is standing and the results here.


India has launched an unmanned model space shuttle, joining the race to develop reusable spacecraft.

The 7m-scale model took off from Andhra Pradesh and was expected to fly about 70km (43 miles) into the atmosphere before coming down at sea.
Since Nasa stopped its Space Shuttle programme in 2011, there has been strong international competition to design alternative reusable spacecraft.
Such vehicles could significantly cut the cost of space exploration.
India has been putting substantial research and resources into its space programme.
A Mars orbiter launched in 2013 is its most high-profile space venture to date.
It hopes to launch a full-scale reusable shuttle within a decade.
Monday's launch of the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV-TD) took place at a site at Sriharikota.
The 1.75-tonne craft was not expected to survive the flight but was designed to enable the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) to collect important data on hypersonic speed and autonomous landing.
The model was developed over the past five years at a cost of 1bn rupees ($14m; Â£9.6m).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the "industrious efforts" of the scientists involved.
Since the US retired its space shuttle programme, private companies, like billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX and Amazon owner Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, have been working towards filling the gap - although their interest is in making traditional rockets re-usable as opposed developing winged vehicles that can make horizontal landings.
Japan, Europe and Russia are also in the testing stages for similar shuttle technology.


Safety measures at Aberdeen beach remain unchanged, seven months after a mother and her son drowned.

A safety group has been set up to look at the provision of safety equipment and lifeguard cover.
Julie Walker, 37, and Lucas, six, died despite the frantic efforts of members of the public and emergency services to save them.
A review was ordered following the tragedy and that has led to the setting up of the Aberdeen Water Safety Group.
It involves eight different agencies, including the RNLI, Aberdeen City Council, UK Coastguard and Police Scotland.
Aberdeen Water Safety Group will consider assessments of safety equipment at the beach and also seek to raise awareness about the potential dangers of the sea and also rivers.
Helen Clark, Royal Life Saving Society UK senior volunteer and vice chairwoman of the water safety group, told BBC Scotland: "There isn't any change in the provision of equipment because at the moment the risk assessment process is being carried out.
"The RNLI have looked at the initial audit of equipment and that has been fed back to Aberdeen City Council.
"The next stage is the full risk assessment which is ongoing currently."
Ms Clark said improving water safety was not just about the provision of equipment but education.
She said: "It is about teaching young people, teaching our parents, how to keep safe around water."
Volunteers from Aberdeen Surf Life Saving Club will be operating again over the summer as they have done previously.
But Ms Clark said because this service relied on volunteers, and also due to the large size of Aberdeen beach, cover could not be provided at all times in all areas.
She said red and yellow flags were flown when the club was operating and the flags also marked the area it was providing lifesaving cover for.
Aberdeen Water Safety Group, which met for the first time eight weeks ago, is also working on a water safety policy for Aberdeen City Council for the beach and also rivers in its area.
Members of the group have already agreed that all lifebelt equipment on land owned by the local authority should be inspected weekly and inspections recorded.
New signage has also been added to equipment which gives details of who to contact should the lifebelt be missing or vandalised.
Insp Carron McKellar, of Police Scotland's Seaton community policing team, said: "Given the tragic events of last year where a mother and child lost their loves in the water at Aberdeen beach, the group are focused on ensuring the water safety message gets out to the public, in particular those who use the beach.
"Public safety is paramount and Police Scotland is committed to working with partners to ensure we achieve this."
It was a busy Saturday afternoon at Aberdeen beach last August when Ms Walker and Lucas drowned. Ms Walker had gone into the sea to try to save her son.
Lucas' 13-year-old brother, Samuel, and two other people who tried to help the family were taken to hospital.
The Aberdeen Water Safety Group includes the RNLI (including Aberdeen Lifeboat Station), Aberdeen City Council, HM Coastguard, Royal Life Saving Society UK, Scottish Fire & Rescue Service, Police Scotland, Surf Lifesaving Great Britain (including Aberdeen Surf Life Saving Club), and Sport Aberdeen.


A mooring line dangling from the world's longest aircraft meant it had to make a "higher than desired approach" to the airfield ahead of its "heavy landing" last month, it has been revealed.

The Â£25m Airlander 10 "nosedived" during its second test flight in Bedfordshire on 24 August.
Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) said the line dropped during a second take-off.
It said it was "certainly a factor" in the landing.
The 302ft (92m) long vehicle made a successful maiden flight last month from Cardington Airfield but sustained damage to the hull and cockpit on landing from its second flight.
A report submitted to the Air Accident Investigations Board (AAIB) by HAV technical director Mike Durham said the aircraft had first made a "successful landing" but there was an "issue with the mooring mast" which required the pilot to take-off a second time and circle the airfield while it was repaired.
It was during the second take-off that the 150ft (46m) nose mooring line dropped free and trailed beneath the aircraft.
"As a result of this, the pilot had to make a higher than desired approach to its second landing of the day to reduce the likelihood of the trailing line snagging on the fence or trees to the south of the airfield," the report said.
An HAV spokesman said: "[This] did mean we had to make a higher than desired approach, and this is certainly a factor in the heavy landing."
The report confirmed that while the mooring line had been in "contact" with a power cable, this had not contributed to the incident.
"The contact of the mooring line with the power cable happened a number of minutes before landing and in no way damaged the aircraft and did not contribute to the heavy landing," the spokesman said.
A full investigation into the incident and repair and testing of the aircraft is expected to take an estimated three to four months.


The deputy leader of the SNP believes a minority Labour government would have to negotiate with the nationalists ahead of its first Queen's speech.

Stewart Hosie told the BBC it would be "high-handed and arrogant" if talks did not take place.
Labour leader Ed Miliband said earlier this month there would not be a Labour/SNP coalition in the event of a hung parliament.
Voters throughout the UK will go to the polls on 7 May to choose their MPs.
Polls are suggesting no one party will win enough constituencies to form a government outright.
They are also suggesting that the SNP could win the majority of Scotland's 59 seats.
Currently Labour has 41, the Liberal Democrats have 11, the SNP holds six and the Conservatives have one.
What deal might be done after the result is known has been the subject of continued speculation.
After being pressed on the coalition question, Mr Miliband has now made it clear there would not be one with the SNP, but he has been less clear on other more informal options.
In the webcast, BBC Scotland's political editor Brian Taylor asked Mr Hosie if his party believed there should be talks ahead of a minority government's Queen's Speech.
Mr Hosie, speaking ahead of his party's spring conference in Glasgow, said: "If Ed Miliband is seriously saying he could run a minority government without speaking to the SNP, if the polls are to be believed, that is a very dangerous tactic for him to take."
He added: "It would be high handed and arrogant for there not to be negotiations [between Labour and the SNP].
"We are talking about the will of the Scottish people - if they vote in a way perhaps the polls are suggesting where the SNP has had a substantial lead over Labour for six months, where UK polls are suggesting a hung parliament, with the SNP in a pivotal position.
"If Ed Miliband is seriously saying he would discount the wishes of the Scottish people, he would discount the wishes of the 70% in Scotland who think an SNP/Labour deal is the most favourable outcome - I think that is a very, very high risk strategy for the British Labour Party."
In a speech earlier in the month, Mr Miliband said there were "big differences" between Labour the SNP.
He added that there would be no SNP ministers in "any government I lead", claiming such talk was "scare-mongering" by his Conservative opponents.
Prime Minister David Cameron said it was "despicable" that Mr Miliband had not ruled out a post-election deal with the SNP and has goaded the opposition leader about being former nationalist leader Alex Salmond's "poodle".
During his BBC webcast - which is based on reader questions - Mr Hosie was asked about who leads the SNP - Nicola Sturgeon or Mr Salmond.
He replied: "Nicola Sturgeon is leader of the Scottish National Party, I am the deputy leader of the Scottish National Party and Angus Robertson is leader of the Westminster group.
"While we all very much hope and expect Alex Salmond to be returned to Westminster, Nicola Sturgeon leads the party."


Adama Traore produced two terrific long-range strikes to help Mali beat 10-man Senegal 3-1 and clinch third place at Fifa's under-20 World Cup at Auckland's North Harbour Stadium on Saturday.

Traore had brought his side back into the game after Senegal's Ibrahima Wadji had opened the scoring in the 64th minute, when his left footed free-kick curled away from Ibrahima Sy in the 74th.
It was Traore again for Mali to give his side the lead.
He blasted a right foot shot past Sy, who had saved a 76th minute penalty from Falaye Sacko, to put Mali 2-1 up with less than seven minutes remaining.
Sacko's day got worse when he handled the ball in the area about two minutes after Traore's second goal, though Djigui Diarra pulled off a superb double save when he stopped the Malick Niang spot kick and the follow-up attempt.
Mali completed the victory when Diadie Samassekou caught Senegal's' defence napping at a free-kick to slot home the third in added time.
Senegal defender Moussa Ba had been sent off in the final minute of the first half by Egyptian referee Ghead Grisha for his second yellow card.
The frenetic final 25 minutes were a contrast to the opening half, when opportunities were rare and fouls were frequent between the west African neighbours.
There were 44 fouls in the match, but it developed into an enthralling encounter.
The victory equals Mali's best ever placing at the Fifa under-20 World Cup.
They also took third place in 1999 in Nigeria, beating Uruguay 1-0 in the play-off match with Roma's Seydou Keita scoring the winner.
For Senegal, this was their first ever appearance at the Fifa under-20 World Cup finals.
Serbia were crowned the 2015 under-20 champions, beating Brazil 2-1 in the final.
Nemanja Maksimovic scored an 118th minute goal on the counter attack to give Serbia victory in extra time.
The game had been locked at 1-1 after regulation time after Stanisa Mandic had given the Serbs hopes of their first title as an independent nation with 20 minutes remaining in the match but Andreas Pereira equalised three minutes later.


A museum in Germany is calling for the last surviving British member of the Dambusters to be honoured.

George "Johnny" Johnson was 22 when he took part in the 1943 air raid using experimental bouncing bombs in Germany.
Despite being nominated for the New Year's Honours list this year, the 95-year-old was omitted.
Oliver Koehler, from the Dambusters Museum in Germany, said "of course" he should be honoured. Carol Vorderman has also petitioned for him to be knighted.
A 237,000-signature petition calling for Mr Johnson to be knighted was taken to No 10 by Carol Vorderman and Gulf War veteran John Nichol in January.
It followed  a petition by campaigner Paul Walmsley, who also wanted the recognition for the former airman.
Bomb-aimer Mr Johnson, from Bristol, joined the newly-formed 617 Squadron in March 1943.
Two months later, he was one of the 133-strong squadron who dodged anti-aircraft fire, power cables and mountainous terrain to drop the four-tonne skipping bomb on dams in the Ruhr Valley.
Codenamed Operation Chastise, eight of the 19 planes were lost, 53 men died and three were captured.
Despite Mr Johnson describing it as a "thrilling experience", he said he was "disgusted" Bomber Command had never been given its own campaign medal.
"I feel there's been no attempt to recognise the sacrifice these people made," he said.
But historian and author of Bomber Command, Max Hastings, said there was "an embarrassment" and "an uncertainty" about how the country "should look back on the bombing".
"I do think the reluctance to issue a campaign medal does reflect how controversial it is and the possible upset it could cause in Germany," he said.
But Mr Koehler said Mr Johnson was "courageous" and had been "ready at any time" to "risk his life" and should be honoured.
The Cabinet Office said it could not comment on individual applications.


Shares in airlines have jumped after Ryanair voted to accept International Airlines Group's (IAG) offer for its 29.8% stake in Aer Lingus.

Ryanair  and IAG shares were up almost 3%, while Aer Lingus was up 1.8%.
The formal acceptance paves the way for the €1.3bn (£940m) bid by BA and Iberia owner IAG for Aer Lingus to go ahead.
It is subject to backing by competition authorities. European Union approval is now the last remaining hurdle to the tie-up.
IAG's plans include building a new transatlantic hub at Dublin airport.
Ryanair's chief executive Michael O'Leary said in a statement: "We believe the IAG offer for Aer Lingus is a reasonable one in the current market and we plan to accept it, in the best interests of Ryanair shareholders.
"The price means that Ryanair will make a small profit on its investment in Aer Lingus over the past nine years."
Ryanair has attempted to buy Aer Lingus three times. Its takeover quest began in 2006, just after Aer Lingus was floated on the stock market by the Irish government.
Ryanair's initial bid illustrates the wild swings in Aer Lingus's value since then. Its first offer was €2.80 a share. The second, two years later, was half that and its most recent offer in 2012 was €1.30 a share.
The Irish government, which sold its 25% stake in Aer Lingus to IAG in May, recommended that Ryanair accept IAG's offer.
The deal values Aer Lingus shares at around €2.50 (£1.87) per share.
Aer Lingus is Heathrow Airport's fourth busiest operator, behind BA, Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic.
If the deal is approved, IAG would gain more take-off and landing slots at Heathrow Airport, allowing it to operate more flights.
Ryanair said it had planned to use Aer Lingus to gain slots at mainstream airports.
Travellers have been surprised in the past by the distance of some of Ryanair's airports from the city they thought they were flying to.
Michael O'Leary said Ryanair did not need Aer Lingus now: "Our original strategy for Aer Lingus (to use it as a mid-priced brand to offer competition to flag carriers at primary airports) has been overtaken by the successful rollout - since Sept 2013 - of Ryanair's "Always Getting Better" strategy, which has seen the Ryanair brand successfully enter many of Europe's primary airports."


French President Francois Hollande has expressed "deep disapproval" over claims the US National Security Agency secretly tapped phone calls in France.

In a phone conversation with US President Barack Obama, he said this was "unacceptable between friends and allies", demanding an explanation.
The White House said the claims "raise legitimate questions".
The NSA spied on 70.3 million phone calls in France between 10 December 2012 and 8 January 2013, it is claimed.
Officials, businesses and terror suspects are among those believed to have been tracked.
The allegations were carried in France's Le Monde newspaper and are based on leaks from US ex-intelligence analyst Edward Snowden.
They prompted President Obama to call his French counterpart to discuss the issue on Monday.
Mr Hollande said that such practices "infringe on the privacy of French citizens" and demanded "explanations" from Mr Obama, according to a statement issued by French presidency.
A White House statement said the two presidents had discussed the latest disclosures, "some of which have distorted our activities and some of which raise legitimate questions for our friends and allies about how these capabilities are employed".
It said: "President [Obama] made clear that the United States has begun to review the way that we gather intelligence, so that we properly balance the legitimate security concerns of our citizens and allies with the privacy concerns that all people share."
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington would continue "bilateral consultations" to address the issue, describing France as "one of our oldest allies".
"Protecting the security of our citizens in today's world is a very complicated, very challenging task... because there are lots of people out there seeking to do harm to other people," Mr Kerry said.
In an earlier statement, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said that "all nations" conducted spying operations.
"As a matter of policy we have made clear that the United States gathers foreign intelligence of the type gathered by all nations," she said.
Le Monde says the NSA intercepts were apparently triggered by certain key words.
The agency also apparently captured millions of text messages.
It was unclear whether the content of the calls and messages was stored, or just the metadata - the details of who was speaking to whom.
And the paper did not say whether the operation, codenamed US-985D, was still in progress.
France's foreign ministry summoned US ambassador Charles Rivkin over the allegations.
The BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris says the outrage is largely for public consumption, because the French government has been accused of running its own snooping operation similar to the US.
Who is Edward Snowden?
Leaks timeline
Le Monde reported in July that the French government was storing vast amounts of personal data of its citizens on a supercomputer at the headquarters of the DGSE intelligence service.
The latest revelations follow claims in the German media that US agents hacked into the email account of former Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
Mr Snowden, a former NSA worker, went public with revelations about US spying operations in June.
The information he leaked led to claims of systematic spying by the NSA and CIA on a global scale.
Targets included rivals like China and Russia, as well as allies like the EU and Brazil.
The NSA was also forced to admit it had captured email and phone data from millions of Americans.
Mr Snowden is currently in Russia, where he was granted a year-long visa after making an asylum application.
The US wants him extradited to face trial on criminal charges.


A bank-funded charity supporting good causes throughout the North East and Cumbria is to be wound up.

The Northern Rock Foundation has handed out more than £200m since it was created in 1997, when its namesake was demutualised to become a bank.
Trustees said they had failed to agree future funding with Virgin Money, which took over Northern Rock in 2011.
Current grant programmes will stop at the end of 2014 as the charity prepares for its likely eventual closure.
In a different announcement, Virgin Money said it would make a £1m investment into community projects designed to make a positive difference to young people in the region.
Northern Rock Foundation said in a statement: "In May 2014, Virgin Money made a generous offer to the Northern Rock Foundation of £1 million per year for five years, to be matched by the foundation raising £3 million per year from the private sector locally.
"This was considered very seriously by the Foundation's trustees.
"Virgin Money and Northern Rock Foundation together looked at many different ways in which this offer could help to generate an income, including reviewing the current funding environment and canvassing views from private, public and voluntary sector bodies.
"Eventually it was concluded that, given the existing charitable commitments and links with other local funders of many other businesses in the region, this was not a viable option.
"Trustees believe there are now no funding routes left to pursue, (although they would be open to viable approaches) and will therefore proceed with the scaling down of the foundation's work."


Photographs of Christmas celebrations attended by United States Air Force (USAF) troops based in the East of England more than 70 years ago have emerged following an appeal on Facebook.

The photographs of festivities during World War Two have been uncovered as part of a project to explore the arrival of the 8th American Air Force across the region. One event - the 353rd Fighter Group's party - was attended by hundreds of children and soldiers in Metfield, Suffolk on 25 December 1943.
David Cain, who is leading the three-year long, Heritage Lottery-funded project named the Eighth in the East, said: "People often talk about the special relationship between the Americans and the British. These Christmas parties are a really strong part of that."
Parties were held across the East of England during the war years, including at RAF Debach on 22 December 1944.
"We were aware that they did a lot of Christmas events for local schoolchildren and we thought it would be interesting to see if there were people who could remember the parties," said Mr Cain.
"We've had some great comments from people - saying 'that's my father' and pointing out people they recognise.
"It's been fantastic."
Some of the photographs, which emerged after the group asked for contributions via its Facebook page, showed local children at a party thrown by 379th Bomb Group at their club at RAF Kimbolton in Cambridgeshire.
About 28,000 US personnel occupied 70 airfields over the three years. The study is looking at airfields spread across Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.
The Eighth In The East project was established to collect the stories of Americans who served and local people who lived near the bases between 1942 to 1945.
Presents were handed out during an event at RAF Ridgewell, near Halstead, in Essex, in December 1944. The first planes of the newly-formed 8th AAF arrived in East Anglia in May 1942, just months after the bombing of Pearl Harbour in December 1941.


The food delivery firm Deliveroo has said it will pay sickness and injury benefits to its 15,000 riders in the UK if the law is changed.

In a submission to the government's review of the "on-demand" economy seen by the BBC, the firm says that at present the law prevents it from offering enhanced rights because it classifies its riders as self-employed.
Deliveroo says it uses that classification to provide its riders with the flexibility to work when they want.
It says employment rules should be changed so that people who work for companies like Deliveroo and Uber can receive enhanced benefits and not lose that flexibility.
Sources say that the firm is willing to look at enhanced payments to riders to cover things like sickness pay - and that the money would probably be administered under a government controlled scheme similar to national insurance or pensions contributions.
It may mean that Deliveroo riders and others working for similar on-demand firms like Uber are "reclassified" as gig workers.
The move comes after a slew of criticism and court cases against gig economy companies over how they treat people who work for them.
"Central to our popularity with riders and our success as a business is the flexible nature of the work that we offer," the submission says.
"We want to offer riders more security.
"We believe everyone - regardless of their type of contract - is entitled to certain benefits, but we are constrained in offering these at the moment."
'Gig economy' workers 'should get minimum wage'
'Pay self-employed minimum wage'
At the moment "self-employed" workers in the gig economy do not have the right to sickness pay, holiday pay or maternity and paternity leave.
They also are not covered by the minimum wage rules.
That has led to criticism that the people who ride or drive for gig companies are actually "workers" and should receive a wide range of benefits.
There are also concerns that companies are exploiting loopholes in employment law and lack of enforcement to run their businesses profitably.
Deliveroo says that if it did offer "worker" contracts, flexibility, which is very popular with its riders, would be lost.
Deliveroo riders, for example, are allowed to work for other on-demand economy businesses at the same time.
This makes it impossible, the firm argues, to guarantee the minimum wage which is based on working for a single employer.
Deliveroo says its riders earn on average £9.50 an hour, £2 more than the National Living Wage.
The firm says it is wrong that riders are at present involved in a "trade-off" between flexibility in the way they work, and the security of full employment benefits.
Company sources have told me that, following moves on sickness pay, Deliveroo would be willing to look at holiday pay, pension rights and maternity and paternity entitlements.
Those rights could be "earned" by riders after a certain number of deliveries have been achieved.
"At present, companies in the UK are forced to class the people they work with as either 'employees', 'workers' or 'self-employed'," the submission says.
"Our riders are 'self-employed'. This gives them full flexibility - but the quid pro quo is that they are not entitled to certain benefits.
"In short, there is currently a trade-off between flexibility and security and we want to play our part in overcoming this divide."
Deliveroo is one of a new breed of "on-demand" firms which operate in what is known as the gig economy.
Riders for the firm - 60% of whom are under the age of 25 - log on to the company's digital platform and receive "jobs" delivering food, on a bike or a scooter.
Matthew Taylor, the head of the Royal Society of Arts, was asked by the government to review this new world of work, including the gig economy and zero hours contracts.
He is expected to publish his report imminently on how to reform employment law so that workers can be flexible without being exploited.
Deliveroo's announcement today has received pretty short shrift from the TUC. Here's general secretary Frances O'Grady on my story this morning:
"This reads like special pleading. There's nothing stopping Deliveroo from paying their workforce the minimum wage and guaranteeing them basic rights like holiday and sick pay.
"Plenty of employers are able to provide genuine flexibility and security for their workforce. Deliveroo have no excuse for not following suit.
"The company's reluctance to offer benefits now is because they want to dodge wider employment and tax obligations by labelling staff as self-employed."
Here's another update. The boss of Deliveroo, Will Shu, has told me that the company is willing to go further than offering its riders sick pay and injury insurance.
I put it to him that the benefits debate in the gig economy went far further than sickness benefits and injury insurance, and asked whether the company would look at issues like pension payments and holiday entitlements.
"This is the beginning of the debate," Mr Shu told me.
"We sat down with - me personally - hundreds of riders and asked, what do you care most about today?
"It was sick pay and insurance for injury and that is what we are starting with. But we are open minded to different things."
That sounds like a yes, the company is willing to look at further benefit areas.
It will be interesting to see how Matthew Taylor's report, expected next week, deals with the issue of broader rights for gig workers.
I asked Mr Shu for his response to critics who say that the only way firms like his make money is by not paying national insurance payments for their riders, pension contributions and other benefits.
"Not at all," he answered.
"I understand [the criticism] - it is a new way of doing businesses.
"The on-demand economy in Britain is five or six years old and there are hundreds of thousands of people in it so the growth has been huge, and so it is understandable that people haven't understood the intricacies.
"At the end of the day though, let's take it back, it is a very different relationship than regular employment. People can come and go as they please.
"The issue is this - if we offer benefits to people the courts may reclassify self-employed people as workers thus robbing them of the flexibility they ultimately signed up for, for the job.
"What that practically means is that you would work on a shift pattern, you wouldn't log in and out as you please. It is a very different work relationship."
And would mean that Deliveroo wouldn't be, well, Deliveroo.


Jose Mourinho won his first trophy as Manchester United manager, his side beating Southampton in a thrilling EFL Cup final.

In the Premier League, Chelsea maintained their surge to the title by beating Swansea, while Tottenham are looking to chase them down after thrashing Stoke.
At the bottom end, Crystal Palace picked up a priceless win over Middlesbrough to move out of the relegation zone, but bottom side Sunderland lost to Everton.
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What a save from Tyrone Mings. The Bournemouth centre-half directed a sensational header towards the top corner of Ben Foster's net only for the England keeper to pull off a match-winning left-handed stop.
But how does Tony Pulis keep producing such effective teams? He always seems to leave clubs in better condition than when he arrived and currently West Brom are a pleasure to watch, which is something I can't say with all of Pulis' teams. The Baggies have 12 games left and need 10 points to achieve their best ever Premier league tally. With Foster in this form it looks like they have every chance.
It was a tremendous ball for Idrissa Gueye and Ross Barkley should have scored in the second half after another wonderful cross by Seamus Coleman. The Irishman is playing out of his skin at the moment and for my money is Everton's player of the season.
And yet I can't understand for the life of me (and I apologise to Evertonians) how Manchester United or City haven't lured him away from Goodison Park. Coleman brings a dimension to Everton very few full-backs bring to a team. The problem for the opposition is that Coleman has been doing it for some considerable time. Coleman is an infectious player and it's a joy to watch him play.
It has been a long and somewhat distinguished career for Gareth McAuley and he couldn't have spent his 500th appearance in football better than this. West Brom's 2-1 win over Bournemouth had an element of good fortune about it. The Baggies' first goal was a deflection before McAuley was handed a celebratory gift by the Cherries' unpredictable keeper Artur Boruc.
I have seen Boruc perform heroics for Bournemouth in the past and then he goes and does something that leaves you utterly puzzled. Not that McAuley wasn't grateful for the present - in fact he could have scored a second but for the intervention of the crossbar. Nevertheless, McAuley did grab his sixth league goal of the season, which is not bad for a centre-half who started his career at Linfield.
I thought that referee Martin Atkinson made absolutely the right call in giving a penalty to Hull when Michael Keane was adjudged to have raised his arm above his head and gained an advantage. At that point the game looked to be running away from Burnley. It took something a bit special to get the Clarets back into the match - but who would have thought it would have been the very man responsible for putting them behind in the first place?
Keane brought the ball down on his chest, allowed it to fall to the ground before dispatching the strike past the goalkeeper. You also have to bear in mind that all this happened in a crowded penalty area. Not only was it impressive it also was nothing less than Burnley deserved.
I have seen Patrick van Aanholt in this mood before - looking mean and searching for goals. A useful attribute to have, particularly if you are a full-back, which is precisely why Sam Allardyce brought his former player at Sunderland to Selhurst Park.
A poor signing can cripple a manager while the right one can save him. Premier League survival is by no means guaranteed for the Eagles and that is why it is imperative to have a player like Van Aanholt in your team who knows exactly what is required.
At the end of the fixture at Stamford Bridge I engaged in a debate over just how good N'Golo Kante actually was. One journalist suggested he was the best player he had ever seen without the ball at his feet, and another thought he was better than the only other Chelsea player with a similar reputation, Claude Makelele - now part of the Swansea backroom staff and arguably the best holding midfield player of his generation.
I thought Kante's performances against the Swans was as effective as any he has produced this season. The 'silent force' continues to carry Chelsea through sticky periods when they carelessly lose the ball, only for the Frenchman to win it back with the minimum of fuss. To hear Swans manager Paul Clement say that Kante had a fantastic performance said it all really.
This was by no means a stellar performance from Chelsea but it was by Cesc Fabregas. Manager Antonio Conte left out Nemanja Matic against a most impressive Swansea for the one player in his squad who is a world-class passer of the ball. Fabregas may not have the running power of Matic but he can cut a defence to ribbons with a swing of his left foot.
The Spaniard could have had a hat-trick in this game but for some poor finishing, but it didn't matter in the end. Chelsea were comfortable winners after a couple of scary moments by Swansea - notably a stonewall penalty which referee Neil Swarbrick chose to ignore at a crucial time in the match. The Blues are now 10 points clear at the top of the table having played some unconvincing football recently but what they have shown is the sort of maturity and consistency some of their competitors have lacked.
This player is the nearest thing I've seen to N'Golo Kante. His ability to cover the ground is also remarkable. There are those of us who found running, unless it was absolutely necessary, tedious, but players like Gueye and Kante see it as their life support. They are the coach's dream, particularly if the coach has little to offer the team other than effort.
Not so with Antonio Conte and especially Ronald Koeman. The Dutch insist that players in their country must know what to do with the ball when it arrives at their feet, and Gueye certainly does. What I like about Gueye is that when he wins the ball he almost without fail completes the pass, which makes winning the ball in the first place much more fun.
Against Sunderland he scored his first goal for the Toffees with a delicious strike into the roof of the net. The problem with these defensive midfield players is that when they score one, rather like tasting Champagne for the first time, they tend to want another.
To see Spurs go three goals up after just 37 minutes at White Hart Lane, even against a non-existent Stoke City, was impressive, particularly after the no-show against Gent in the Europa League a few days earlier.
In a first half where everything Harry Kane touched seemed to turn to gold, the striker's best effort, struck with the inside of this right foot, screamed past the upright. Had he scored, it would have been my goal of the season.
Equally, Stoke's first-half performance was so distressing I was beginning to wonder if their players had spent the entire week trawling the streets of the city campaigning in the Stoke central by-election. I can't recall seeing a more abject performance from a Premier League side. Woeful.
Ninety-two minutes into the game and he was still putting his body of the line for the team. His goals were brilliantly taken and he seems made for the big occasion. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was the difference in the EFL Cup final between Manchester United and Southampton who, by the way, were also fantastic.
However, what this victory signified was that a manager is nothing without his star players and a benevolent chairman, a fact that will not be lost on Claudio Ranieri this week. Manchester United have seriously benefited from bringing Ibrahimovic to Old Trafford. He has almost single-handedly injected a presence into the United set-up that has not been seen since the departure of Roy Keane.
Nevertheless the reality is that Ibrahimovic is a football 'senior citizen' and cannot continue to punish himself like this indefinitely. At some stage Paul Pogba (who went AWOL again against the Saints) has to step up to the plate and start showing some true leadership, especially in the big games. Mourinho has no choice but to keep  Ibrahimovic onside, at least until Pogba grows up.
It is not very often a footballer scores two goals in a cup final, one of which is worthy of winning the trophy, but leaves the arena with absolutely nothing. Well, that is the tale of Manolo Gabbiadini, who for me was sensational against Manchester United in the EFL Cup final.
In fact, Gabbiadini's evening started very badly. What should have been a perfectly good goal was disallowed by an overzealous referee's assistant. Nevertheless, everything about Gabbiadini's play was perfect. His touch and hold-up play were wonderful.
Yet it was his second goal that put Southampton level that did it for me. To turn on a sixpence, provide Chris Smalling no opportunity to intervene, and leave a world-class goalkeeper like David de Gea rooted to the spot to watch the ball roll agonisingly past was pure genius.
I have sung the praises of Gabbiadini in my team of the week before but this performance was really of the highest quality. And a tragedy in some ways that he left with nothing to show for his exploits.


It was no big surprise when Matthew McConaughey scooped this year's best actor Oscar for his role in Dallas Buyers Club as a real-life rodeo cowboy who smuggled HIV drugs into the US.

The 44-year-old had been the hot favourite for weeks to pick up the prestigious Academy Award. Just five or six years ago, though, no one would have predicted how his career has come full circle.
Born in the small city of Uvalde, Texas, McConaughey eschewed a role in the family oil pipe business to study radio, TV and film at the University of Texas.
While many still know him best for his leading roles in such rom-coms as Failure to Launch and The Wedding Planner, he actually began his career in Richard Linklater's indie cult classic, Dazed and Confused.
The 1993 film, set in a high school in the 1970s, saw him utter his now-famous line "alright, alright, alright" for the first time in his role as drifter David Wooderson.
This led to small roles in films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation and road trip comedy drama Boys on the Side. But then he got his big break, playing a lawyer in the 1996 film adaptation of John Grisham novel A Time to Kill.
The role landed him on the cover of Vanity Fair. The same year he also won plaudits for his role in Lone Star, a Texas-set western directed by John Sayles.
With a lead role in Steven Spielberg's slave drama Amistad the following year, it seemed unlikely that McConaughey would soon be going down the route of semi-naked poster boy.
But with lukewarm receptions for Linklater's The Newton Boys (1998) and Ron Howard's EdTV (1999), in which McConaughey had leading roles, it was time to change course.
The Wedding Planner (2001), co-starring Jennifer Lopez, was followed by How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003) with Kate Hudson and Failure to Launch (2006), opposite Sarah Jessica Parker.
2008's Fool's Gold saw him reunite with Hudson, while 2009's Ghosts of Girlfriends Past cast him alongside Jennifer Garner.
The rom-coms were interspersed with more dramatic fare: Sahara, opposite Penelope Cruz, and Two for the Money with Al Pacino, both released in 2005. Yet McConaughey seemed to accept where his bread and butter would be made.
In a recent interview in the Daily Telegraph, McConaughey said he had no qualms about being associated with the romantic comedy genre.
"I didn't ever go, 'No, no, no.' I was like, 'Yeah! I get that. That's fun. What's the big deal?' If you go deep with the rom-com you sink the ship.
"There's a buoyancy to the frequency of rom-coms. To be light is critically always looked down upon - it's willowy, it's wispy, it's nothing. You know what? It's not easy to do and a lot of people don't do it well."
Having made his fortune at the box office, though, he made the crucial decision to be more choosy.
Three years ago, McConaughey signalled a change in direction with The Lincoln Lawyer, a critically acclaimed crime thriller that was swiftly followed by Bernie, another collaboration with Linklater.
His lead role in 2011's Killer Joe, from The Exorcist director William Friedkin, won him plenty of praise, as did his roles in The Paperboy and Mud the following year.
This burgeoning, more heavyweight career, was coined the "McConnaissance", a phrase the actor described as "fun" in a 2012 interview.
A stripper role in Steven Soderbergh's 2012 comedy Magic Mike proved McConaughey was confident enough to still take more light-hearted roles - one which won him a best supporting actor award at last year's Independent Spirit Awards.
In a BBC interview in 2012, the actor was asked if he had become a different Matthew McConaughey these days. The actor replied: "Same one but a different chapter of my book."
It certainly seems like a lifetime ago since McConaughey was charged with resisting arrest after an early morning disturbance at his home in Texas in 1999. A police officer allegedly spotted the star through a window, dancing naked and playing bongo drums.
He was subsequently fined for disturbing the peace. In an interview with GQ magazine last year, however, he said: "Of course I still play the congas naked. I just close the windows."
Magic Mike was followed by Dallas Buyers Club, not to mention a critically acclaimed cameo role opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese's Oscar-nominated The Wolf of Wall Street.
Currently to be seen alongside his frequent collaborator Woody Harrelson in HBO drama series True Detective, McConaughey will be found later this year in Christopher Nolan's sci-fi epic Interstellar.
Such projects show McConaughey is staying true to his motto "just keep livin'", also the name of his non-profit foundation, which provides fitness and health programmes in US schools.
Perhaps the last word should go to McConaughey's Dallas Buyers Club co-star, Jared Leto. Following his win at the Spirit awards on Saturday, he joked that he was going to "pull a reverse" from McConaughey and only do romantic comedies in the future.
If his co-star's success is anything to go by, it might not do him any harm.


Scotch whisky producers have released new figures suggesting the decline seen in overseas sales in recent years is slowing.

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) said exports in the first half of the year totalled £1.7bn.
That represented a 3% fall in value, compared with a drop of 11% between the first half of 2013 and 2014.
The industry body said "encouraging trends" were starting to develop in several key markets.
It pointed to single malt exports, which were up 5% to £406m in the first half of the year.
Overall, the volume of exports was down by half of last year's decline, falling just under 3% to the equivalent of 517 million bottles.
The SWA figures were based on data from HM Revenue and Customs.
Exports to the USA - the biggest market by value for Scotch whisky - remained steady at £327m.
Canada saw sales increase by 20% to £36m, while exports to Mexico were up by almost 12% to £43m.
Despite austerity measures in China, the market there returned to growth - with direct exports jumping 46% to £22m in the first half of the year.
SWA said that rise largely reflected "strong efforts" to export bottled blended Scotch.
However, trading was more volatile in other markets.
In Europe, France and Spain were up in volume but down in value.
Germany was down in both value and volume, but sales to Poland were up 45% in value to £20m and Turkey up 28% to £23m.
Outside Europe, the Brazilian market was badly hit, falling nearly 30% in value.
Whisky producers attributed the drop to the severe economic downturn in Brazil.
Meanwhile, SWA said exports to India fell 11% by value and 8% by volume, reflecting "ongoing difficulties in the business climate".
SWA chief executive David Frost said: "We're starting to see some strong signals for growth and we continue to believe the long-term prospects for Scotch whisky remain good.
"This is reflected in the large number of new distilleries opening, with half a dozen starting production in the last year or so.
"The growth of single malt exports shows that premium products are ever more popular.
"We had a decade of record growth, there was then a decline in exports in recent years largely because of the slowdown in the emerging markets, but signs of improvement are on the horizon."


England manager Gareth Southgate says he is "stunned" by the death of former team-mate Ugo Ehiogu.

Former England defender Ehiogu died at the age of 44 on Friday after suffering a cardiac arrest the previous day.
Southgate and Ehiogu formed a centre-back pairing for almost 10 years at Aston Villa and Middlesbrough, winning the League Cup together at both clubs.
"He was a gentle giant away from football, he was a colossus on the pitch," Southgate said.
Ehiogu, who was Tottenham's Under-23s coach, was taken to hospital on Thursday after collapsing at the club's training ground, but a statement said he had died in the early hours of Friday morning.
Capped four times by England, Ehiogu made over 200 appearances for Villa between 1991 and 2000 and then spent seven years at Boro. The defender also played for West Brom, Leeds, Rangers and Sheffield United, before retiring in 2009.
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"I'm stunned and deeply saddened by Ugo's passing and clearly my initial thoughts are with his wife Gemma, his children and his family.
"I know that football will be grieving because he was so highly respected by everybody he worked with and losing him at such a young age is difficult to come to terms with.
"Most importantly, he was a gentleman and he is one of those characters that people would find it difficult to have anything bad to say about him.
"I probably played more games with Ugo than anybody else in my career and while in many ways he was a gentle giant away from football, he was a colossus on the pitch. It felt like a true partnership with Ugo because we were prepared to put our bodies on the line for each other.
"We shared highs, lows and won a couple of trophies together with Villa and Boro and it's those memories that I will always cherish when I think of Ugo.
"He was one of the most professional people I played with in terms of how he applied himself to his job and it was great to see him progressing through the coaching pathway with that thirst for learning.
"I've spoken to several of our former team-mates today and there's just a sense of disbelief that we're having these conversations.
"Ugo was a credit to football, a credit to his family and he will be missed by everybody who was lucky enough to know him."


The scale of "fake research" in the UK appears to have been underestimated, a BBC investigation suggests.

Official data points to about 30 allegations of research misconduct between 2012 and 2015.
However, figures obtained by the BBC under Freedom of Information rules identified hundreds of allegations over a similar time period at 23 universities alone.
There are growing concerns around the world over research integrity.
The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has begun an inquiry into the issue to reassure the public that robust systems are in place in the UK.
Stephen Metcalfe, the committee's chairman, said it was vitally important that people have confidence in research that is paid for by public funds.
"Where research has been found to be fraudulent at a later point it has a big impact on the public - it leads to mistrust," he told BBC News.
"What we want to do is to investigate how robust the mechanisms are for ensuring that research is ethical, it is accurate, it is, to a degree, reproducible."
Requests by the BBC under Freedom of Information rules show that at least 300 allegations were reported at 23 of the 24 research-intensive Russell Group universities between 2011 and 2016 among staff and research students.
About a third of allegations of plagiarism, fabrication, piracy and misconduct were upheld. More than 30 research papers had to be retracted.
Commenting, a spokesman for the Russell Group said: "Our universities take research integrity seriously and work continuously to help staff and students maintain high standards of research.
"The UK has a global reputation for the quality of our scientific research. This is not least because our members are rigorous in their approach to research integrity."
Mr Metcalfe said the figures obtained by the BBC demonstrated the importance of the MPs' inquiry, but they had to be put in the context of the overall number of papers published.
"We do need to have accurate figures that are available so we can all have confidence that the research is being conducted properly, and when it's not, there is a system that challenges that," he said.
Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors of universities, was asked to comment on the data obtained by the BBC, but declined.
There are growing pressures on researchers to publish their work and obtain grants. Retractions of scientific papers have increased about ten-fold during the past decade.
The blog, Retraction Watch, reports on retractions of scientific papers.
Co-founder of Retraction Watch, Dr Ivan Oransky, told BBC News: "We do not have a good handle on how much research misconduct takes place, but it's become quite clear that universities and funding agencies and oversight bodies are not reporting even a reasonable fraction of the number of cases that they see."
He said one of the most widely cited surveys suggests 2% of researchers admit to committing something that would be considered misconduct.
"If that's a ball-park figure of 2%, well, the number of cases that we hear about is a miniscule fraction of that," said Dr Oransky.
"Clearly there's a lot that's happening that we don't know about. I would say that any steps that universities can take to begin being more honest and forthright and disclosing these cases would be wonderful."
Deliberate research fraud is thought to be extremely rare. However, if it does happen it can have severe consequences, such as risking public health and undermining public trust in research.
There have been calls for a UK regulatory body to oversee publicly funded research, based on models in the US and Denmark.
Mr Metcalfe said the idea of some sort of regulator would be explored, although he said "there is no appetite for that in the wider community at the moment".
He said the committee would also be looking at why there is so little official data on research misconduct.
Figures from Research Councils UK are regarded as the most reliable, according to a source.
The body, which represents the UK's seven Research Councils, reported 33 allegations of research misconduct between 2012 and 2015. Of these, five were formally upheld, 20 were dismissed and eight are ongoing.
In addition, Universities UK looked at statements on research misconduct published by 19 universities for the year 2013-14. It found 29 allegations were reported, with seven cases upheld after investigation.
It is not clear whether the figures relate to the same or different cases.
In 2012, universities signed up to a concordat to support research integrity.
Under the agreement, universities are encouraged to use transparent, robust and fair processes to handle allegations of misconduct.
However, they are not obliged to publish figures on breaches of research integrity, making the scale of the problem difficult to determine.
An audit by Universities UK found that about 35 of 131 universities published annual statements on allegations of research misconduct that were made available to the public.
The BBC investigation asked 24 universities in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland within the Russell Group, which focus heavily on research, to reveal figures on allegations of research misconduct for academic years between 2011 and 2016. All but one university complied in full or in part.
A total of 319 cases were reported between 2011 and 2016 among staff and research students. The actual number is likely to be higher as some universities did not provide full figures.
Of these 103 were upheld, 173 were dismissed and 43 are ongoing.
Allegations that were upheld after investigation included:
The investigations led to at least 32 research papers being retracted as well as at least three PhD theses. These figures are likely to be an underestimate as some universities could not supply data on retractions.
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Disabled parking badge prosecutions have risen by 84% in a year, new figures reveal.

Councils in England took legal action against 985 people in 2014-15, the vast majority of them for using someone else's blue badge.
It compares with 535 the year before, data from the Department for Transport has shown.
Disability groups said they hoped legitimate holders of blue badges would be treated fairly by fellow motorists.
Thefts of badges have also risen with 2,056 cases, compared with 1,756 the year before.
Across England, all but 28 prosecutions were of non-badge holders using another person's permit.
Hammersmith and Fulham Council in London prosecuted the most people of any authority, with 190 cases in 2014-15.
Councillor Wesley Harcourt, Hammersmith and Fulham Council's cabinet member for transport, said fraudsters were using blue badges to park near shopping centres such as the Westfield development in west London.
"This abuse frustrates and is unfair on genuine badge holders," he said.
985
prosecutions in 2014-15
535
prosecutions in 2013-14
8,790 badges lost
2,056 badges stolen
2.45 million blue badges held in 2014
Â£1,000 fine for misuse of a badge
A spokesman said the original holder would not normally know of the fraudulent use and that repeat incidents with the same badge were "very rare".
Blue badge misuse attracts a fine of up to Â£1,000 plus any additional penalty for a related parking offence.
Islington saw the largest number of stolen badges in 2014-15, 122 in total and up from 103 the year before.  A spokesman said it was a "callous and unacceptable crime" and the local authority takes the thefts very seriously.
Thefts of permits decreased between 2010 and 2013 but have risen again over the past two years.
More than two million disabled people have blue badges. They allow holders to park close to the places they need to visit, including on double yellow lines for up to three hours, provided there is no loading or unloading.
Elliot Dunster, head of policy at disability charity Scope, said: "We hope that this staggering rise in prosecutions is because councils are getting better at tackling abuse of the blue badge system, and weeding out those who are not disabled.
"Many disabled people rely on their blue badge to live independently, take part in the local community and contribute to their local economy."
Philip Connolly, the policy and development manager of Disability Rights UK, said the government had cut red tape to make it easier for local authorities to crack down on abuse of the blue badge scheme.
However, he warned people should not jump to conclusions about drivers who may appear mobile on a particular day.
"We need a different way of talking about disabled people and the way that they talk about the blue badge scheme is detrimental to that," he said.
"There is a narrative at work here that suggests that people are in some ways dishonest and should not have a right to their entitlements."


Glasgow City head coach Scott Booth praised his side's commitment following their Champions League exit at the hands of Chelsea Ladies.

Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, hosts City fell further behind to Eniola Aluko's strike and Fran Kirby and Gilly Flaherty added further goals.
But Booth was pleased with how the Scottish champions applied themselves against their English opponents.
"I'm proud of my team," said Booth," I think they've done great."
And the former Scotland and Aberdeen striker added: "Each year, in the Champions League, we come across teams like that. Last season it was PSG that put Glasgow City out. This season it's Chelsea.
"They want to go and play against these teams - some of the best teams in Europe.
"Sometimes you can get through and you can make it work, other times it's a little bit difficult because you're fighting against a massive gulf in finance and resources.
"We were totally committed again, over the two legs. I'm not disappointed in my team one bit. We did very, very well and I'm still proud of them.
"They commit everything to this club and that gives me loads of energy to keep going for them."
Booth felt pace in particular gave Chelsea the edge at Airdrieonians' Excelsior Stadium.
"We don't lack anything in belief and the way that they give you absolutely anything but, at times, just that little bit of pace," he explained.
"Even defensively, they've got quick players. I think that, at times, has been the difference.
"Once they got the goal, it sort of changed things for us. We had to really gamble. We knew by doing that, we'd concede space centrally and on the wings. We were happy to go and try it but, at the end of the day, they just had too much for us."
With Booth having taken over from Eddie Wolecki Black in July, this was his first Champions League campaign as City boss.
"I'm loving it, I really am," he said.
"They're brilliant to work for. I feel like I work for them. They're so committed to what they do. A lot of them are just working through the day and then at night - four nights a week - we go and train and we train well and then we play at the weekend.
"Every year, you feel that the women's game is getting stronger and stronger. It certainly is in our country and there's lots of good players coming through.
"I just hope that we can continue to grow the women's game."


The M5 motorway was closed for about an hour after a bullock strayed onto the road earlier.

The escaped animal was spotted at 05:00 BST on the M5 northbound between junctions 28 and 27 near Cullompton in Devon, Highways England said.
The motorway was closed while the beast was cleared from the road.
Highways England later tweeted: "The errant bullock has been escorted to his home off the motorway. Thank you for your patience."


A banned driver has admitted killing a great-great-grandmother in Maesteg, Bridgend county.

Tydfil Jenkins, 80, was struck by Alan Davies' car as she delivered a cake to an elderly friend.
Davies, 35, admitted causing death by careless driving and driving while disqualified, being uninsured and under the influence of drugs.
He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced later this month at Cardiff Crown Court.
Mrs Jenkins was knocked down by Davies' Renault Clio on Bethania Street in January, after taking a home-made cake to a neighbour.
At the time a family member said: "She was a much loved mother and also a loving grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother.
"She was a straight forward woman who loved going to the bingo with her friends and will be very much missed by all who knew her."


A new appeal has been made to the mother of a baby girl found dead at a West Yorkshire waste site a year ago.

The body of a girl was found in Shipley on 19 May, 2011 and West Yorkshire Police hopes to identify the baby who was about three days old.
Her remains were discovered by staff at the Associated Waste Management depot last year.
The appeal comes as police talk with the coroner about the the infant's remains being released for a funeral.
Officers have sent 37,000 letters to homes in Bradford and Leeds to appeal for information in the past year.
Scientific work has now provided officers with a DNA profile of the child, although a matching profile of her mother is not on record.
It is believed the baby's delivery did not take place in a hospital and a post-mortem test failed to ascertain a cause of death.
Det Supt Sukhbir Singh, who is leading the investigation, said: "I would again urge the child's mother and family to come forward and help us identify her baby girl as she is laid to rest."
Police believe the mother of the baby is from the West Yorkshire area.
Staff at the waste management depot have taken an interest in supporting the funeral of the baby according to the police.
Anyone with information should contact West Yorkshire Police.


Chris and Gabby Adcock have become the first British players to reach a final of the year-end World Superseries Finals.

The world number seven pairing beat Indonesia's Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto 21-17, 22-20 in the mixed doubles semi-finals in Dubai.
They will face South Korea's Ko Sung Hyun and Kim Ha Na in Sunday's final.
Speaking about the win, Chris said: "It wasn't something we were aware of, but it's nice to achieve that."
It was the husband-and-wife team's fourth successive win over the Indonesians, while they will be looking for a first career victory over their South Korean opponents.
Currently second in the Race to Rio [Olympics] standings, the South Koreans have recorded wins at the Denmark and French Opens in recent months, and will start as favourites for the title.
Chris, who won a Commonwealth Games gold medal with Gabby in the mixed doubles at Glasgow 2014, added: "The Koreans are definitely an in-form pair right now, and have won a couple Superseries events recently.
"However, we are also feeling in good form and shape going into the final and the challenge of Ko and Kim really excites us."
Ko and Kim beat Hong Kong's surprise package Lee Chun Hei Reginald and Chau Hoi Wah 21-15, 20-22, 21-12.
The Adcocks reached the semi-finals last year of the season-ending showdown which features $1m in prize money.
Former mixed doubles pair Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg reached the Superseries semi-final in 2008 and 2009.
Great Britain was represented in the men's and women's singles finals at the K&D Graphics Grand Prix in Orange, California.
Number two seed England's Rajiv Ouseph was beaten 21-19 21-12 by South Korea's Lee Hyun II in the men's final after a 21-18 21-13 victory over Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana in his semi-final.
Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour beat Thailand's Nitchaon Jindapol 21-14 21-8 in her semi-final and will meet China's Pai Yu Po in the final.


Aston Villa defender Ritchie De Laet is facing a lengthy spell out of action after picking up a serious knee injury, according to boss Roberto Di Matteo.

De Laet, 27, who signed from Leicester City in August, went off in the 67th minute of Villa's 1-1 draw against Brentford on Wednesday.
"We will have to make more assessments with him, but it looks right now like he will need surgery," Di Matteo said.
"We need to see what damage he has on the knee. He will be out for a while."


Rock band Kasabian have cancelled a concert in Belfast minutes before they were due to take to the stage on Tuesday night.

In a statement on Twitter, the band said it was "with great regret, due to illness, we cannot perform at Customs House Belfast".
Organisers said they were working to re-schedule the concert.
Many concert goers said they were disappointed with the last-minute cancellation.
Stephen Nelson said the stage was set-up for the band when the news was announced to the audience.
"They had set up everything, all the gear, their background was up, their roadies were on stage.
"Then 10 minutes before an announcement came on the PA that the gig was cancelled.
"People were like, 'are you serious?' Then the announcement was repeated and there was some booing."
Kathryn McKeown said the crowd were "disappointed" when the announcement was made.
"It was lashing rain on and off, everyone was drenched. Blossoms (the support band) were saying, 'are you excited for Kasabian?' before they finished.
She added: "About 10 minutes before the band were due on stage there was an announcement to say that due to last-minute illness the band would be unable to perform, tickets would be valid for a re-scheduled show.
"At first, I think everyone thought it was a joke. After about the third announcement it started to sink in and everyone started booing, some people were even chucking pints and plastic cups at the stage."
In a statement, organisers said: "Due to a last-minute illness we regret that the band have had to cancel tonight's show.
"We are working at this minute on scheduling a new date for Belfast. We will communicate with all ticket buyers via Ticketmaster and on the Custom House Square social media.
"Tickets will remain valid for the new date. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."
The band were due to play as part of a series of concerts at Custom House Square.


Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has lifted a ban on government MPs appearing on a popular current affairs television show.

Mr Abbott imposed the ban after a convicted criminal and former terror suspect appeared on the Australian Broadcasting Corp. 's (ABC) Q&A show.
Zaky Mallah had been included in the audience of a live broadcast.
Mr Abbott lifted the ban after the ABC's board moved the show to the ABC's more rigorous news division.
On the show, Mallah had questioned a member of the government about tough new citizenship laws, and accused the government of encouraging Australian Muslims "to leave and go to Syria and join [Islamic State]".
Mr Abbott had questioned the ABC's allegiance to Australia over the whole affair.
In turn, he has been accused of setting a dangerous precedent by interfering in the broadcaster's editorial decisions.
The public broadcaster, funded by taxpayers but editorially independent of the government, on Thursday agreed to Mr Abbott's demands to shift the show from its TV division into news.
The shift to news will not come into effect until 2016, but Mr Abbott said the ban was lifted "straight away" now that the ABC had "guaranteed" it would make the change.
"It's exactly what I was calling for and at last we've seen a bit of common sense after the notorious Q&A program of some weeks back," Mr Abbott said on Friday.
"And look, I'm pleased that they've accepted what the government sought," he told local media.
"Give them a bit of a pat on the back for doing the right thing and I don't want to talk about the length of time that management decisions might take," he said.
The move legitimised government interference in the ABC, Friends of the ABC spokesperson Graeme Connelly told the BBC.
"And having legitimised interference it's a slippery slope," Mr Connelly said.
Opposition Labor communications spokesman Jason Clare said the prime minister should not interfere in the ABC's editorial and management decisions.
"The real question now is, does Tony Abbott have the guts to appear on Q&A?" Mr Clare said, reported Fairfax Media.


Rwanda genocide suspect Ladislas Ntaganzwa has been flown to Rwanda from Democratic Republic of Congo for trial.

Arrested in eastern DR Congo in December, Mr Ntaganzwa, 53, is accused in a UN indictment of genocide, crimes against humanity and violating the Geneva Conventions.
He is alleged to have helped form a Hutu militia "to exterminate" Tutsis while mayor of the town of Nyakizu.
Some 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, died in the 1994 genocide.
Militias from the majority Hutu ethnic group massacred Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
Rwanda genocide: 100 days of slaughter
What has Rwanda genocide tribunal achieved?
The US had issued a $5m (Â£3.2m) reward for Ntaganzwa's arrest, calling him "one of the main instigators of the genocide".
The indictment by the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) describes his involvement in the killing of more than 20,000 Tutsis between 14 and 18 April 1994.
It says he "substantially participated in the planning, preparation and execution of the massacre".
He told a group including Hutu civilians to surround Cyahinda parish, in southern Rwanda, "so that no Tutsis could escape and told them to kill Tutsis", the indictment alleges.
Mr Ntaganzwa is also "alleged to have orchestrated the rape and sexual violence committed against many women".
His lawyers have yet to comment.
Reacting to his transfer from neighbouring DR Congo, the head of Rwanda's Genocide Fugitive Tracking Unit, Jean-Bosco Siboyintore, said: "We are very happy to see this effected."
Eight suspects remain at large and are still wanted by the UN for their alleged role in the genocide.
The ICTR was closed in December and Mr Ntaganzwa was delivered to Rwandan prosecutors with the help of the successor UN organisation, the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals.
The ICTR convicted 61 people of involvement in the genocide.


A man has admitted causing the death of his teenage friend in an Aberdeenshire car crash two days after passing his driving test.

Benjamin Waterfield, 17, died after Calvin McRobb, 20, lost control of his Citroen C2 on the A947 Dyce to Newmachar road in March last year.
McRobb, of Cove, admitted causing his friend's death by driving carelessly.
Sentence at Aberdeen Sheriff Court was deferred.


Championship leaders Hull City played out a goalless draw with play-off chasing Sheffield Wednesday.

The Owls had the better of the first half, with Fernando Forestieri thundering a shot against the woodwork from 30 yards out.
Sam Clucas hit the post for the hosts after the break before Tigers defender Curtis Davies headed just wide.
Forestieri was shown a late red card, his second in a week, after being given a second yellow card for diving.
The former Italy Under-21 international seemed to be harshly done by as replays showed Hull defender Michael Dawson did impede the Owls forward.
The dismissal means Forestieri has now been sent off in successive appearances, having been shown a red card at Preston on 20 February, and he will now serve a two-game ban.
It was a second draw between the two sides this season and there was little between the teams for most of the game.
Steve Bruce's side improved after half-time but Forestieri's red card came too late to have any real impact on the course of the match.
Hull manager Steve Bruce told BBC Radio Humberside:
Media playback is not supported on this device
"In the grand scheme of things, we'll take the point but we're disappointed we didn't get the three.
"In the second half in particular, we were the dominant side but we missed the opportunities we had.
"There comes the frustration because we've created chances, we've played well enough, and it just wasn't our night in front of goal."
Sheffield Wednesday head coach Carlos Carvalhal told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"It was a good point. They started to move the ball well in the second half and we had more problems then.
(On the red card) "I think it was a bad decision. You can see from the reaction of the players and the Hull player apologised to the referee. It was a big mistake.
"There's nothing I can do about it because we can't appeal against it."
Match ends, Hull City 0, Sheffield Wednesday 0.
Second Half ends, Hull City 0, Sheffield Wednesday 0.
Moses Odubajo (Hull City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Barry Bannan (Sheffield Wednesday).
Substitution, Hull City. Ahmed Elmohamady replaces Robert Snodgrass.
Second yellow card to Fernando Forestieri (Sheffield Wednesday).
Fernando Forestieri (Sheffield Wednesday) has gone down, but that's a dive.
Attempt saved. Abel Hernández (Hull City) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Jake Livermore.
Fernando Forestieri (Sheffield Wednesday) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Andrew Robertson (Hull City) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Fernando Forestieri (Sheffield Wednesday).
Substitution, Sheffield Wednesday. Atdhe Nuhiu replaces Gary Hooper.
Attempt saved. Abel Hernández (Hull City) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Substitution, Hull City. Chuba Akpom replaces Mohamed Diamé.
Attempt missed. Jake Livermore (Hull City) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right.
Attempt saved. Robert Snodgrass (Hull City) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Nick Powell.
Attempt missed. Jake Livermore (Hull City) right footed shot from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Curtis Davies with a headed pass following a corner.
Corner,  Hull City. Conceded by Joe Bennett.
Andrew Robertson (Hull City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Ross Wallace (Sheffield Wednesday).
Substitution, Sheffield Wednesday. Álex López replaces Sam Hutchinson because of an injury.
Attempt missed. Curtis Davies (Hull City) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Robert Snodgrass with a cross following a corner.
Corner,  Hull City. Conceded by Michael Turner.
Sam Clucas (Hull City) hits the left post with a left footed shot from outside the box. Assisted by Jake Livermore.
Attempt saved. Abel Hernández (Hull City) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Jake Livermore.
Substitution, Sheffield Wednesday. Ross Wallace replaces Aiden McGeady.
Substitution, Hull City. Nick Powell replaces David Meyler.
Attempt blocked. Moses Odubajo (Hull City) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Foul by Jake Livermore (Hull City).
Fernando Forestieri (Sheffield Wednesday) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Joe Bennett (Sheffield Wednesday) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Robert Snodgrass (Hull City) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Joe Bennett (Sheffield Wednesday).
Corner,  Sheffield Wednesday. Conceded by Michael Dawson.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Barry Bannan (Sheffield Wednesday) because of an injury.
Attempt saved. Abel Hernández (Hull City) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Mohamed Diamé.
Attempt missed. Sam Clucas (Hull City) left footed shot from the left side of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Andrew Robertson with a through ball.
Robert Snodgrass (Hull City) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Fernando Forestieri (Sheffield Wednesday).


The Vatican has defended its decision to invite China to a conference on organ trafficking despite its record of using executed inmates as organ donors.

The head of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (PAS) admitted he did not know whether the practice was continuing but said he hoped to encourage change.
Human rights groups say China is still using executed prisoners as a source of organ transplants.
Beijing says forced organ harvesting ended in 2015.
But the group Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH) said China's participation was compromising the conference and the PAS should reject its claim as no independent inspection had taken place.
"Without accountability, there is no reason to trust the government of China's claim that forced organ harvesting of prisoners has come to an end," said Dr Torsten Trey.
Those killed so their organs can be sold for transplant mainly include members of the Falun Gong, an exercise-based spiritual movement that became popular before being banned as a cult in 1999, but also include Christians, ethnic Tibetans and Uighurs and other people who have been imprisoned for their beliefs, campaigners say.
China has a shortage of donors and a big black market in organs.
DAFOH wants Beijing to prove publicly that a 1980s law allowing organ harvesting has been abolished.
The group's criticism follows a report last year by the International Coalition to End Organ Pillaging in China (EOP), which said the Chinese Communist Party was behind the mass killing of innocent prisoners.
The US House of Representatives has condemned forced organ harvesting and called for its end.
However the director of China's transplant programme insisted progress was being made despite some violations taking place.
"In my governmental organisation there is zero tolerance," Dr Huang Jeifu said.
"However, China is a big country, with 1.3 billion people, so sure, definitely, there is some violation of the law. If there is some violation of the law it will be severely punished."
Correspondents say Dr Huang is a controversial figure, credited by some with reforming a notoriously corrupt system but accused by others of being complicit in allowing it to continue.
The Vatican conference is a response to Pope Francis's efforts to crack down on trafficking in humans and organs.
Delegates have been told how desperate patients flock to countries where regulations are lax and organs can be cheaply bought, such as Egypt, India and Mexico, for everything from kidneys to corneas.
The conference aims to declare organ trafficking a crime against humanity.
It is taking place against a backdrop of warming ties between China and the Vatican.
They are believed to be close to a historic agreement governing the selection of bishops for 10m Chinese Roman Catholics.


Chelsea have signed Wigan forward Victor Moses for an undisclosed fee thought to be around £9m.

The Champions League winners had four previous bids for the former England Under-21 international rejected.
A statement on Chelsea's official website read: "Chelsea Football Club is delighted to announce the signing of Victor Moses from Wigan Athletic."
Age: 21
Clubs: Crystal Palace, Wigan
Nationality: Nigerian (three caps)
Did you know? Moses played for England at Under-16, U17, U19 and U21 level before pledging his allegiance to Nigeria.
No details were given on the contract for Moses, who played in the Blues' 2-0 victory at the DW Stadium on Sunday.
Chelsea are believed to have offered £7m up front, with a further £2m in add-ons.
Moses, 21, joined Wigan from Crystal Palace on a three-and-a-half-year deal in January 2010 for a reported fee of £2.5m.
He scored six goals for the Latics last season, playing a key part in their successful bid to stay in the Premier League.
Wigan manager Roberto Martinez was  keen to keep the Nigeria international at the DW Stadium, but knew that Wigan were likely to accept a bid for the player if another club met their asking price.
Moses becomes Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo's second signing of the day, following the capture of Marseille full-back Cesar Azpilicueta.


The discovery of a huge "fake sanitary towel" operation in southeast China has prompted fears about the possible impact on women's health.

Police in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, say they have arrested two suspects believed to have produced millions of the fakes in dirty facilities.
The fakes are thought to have gone on sale across China since 2013.
Chinese authorities have warned against buying discounted products, saying there could be serious health risks.
The Nanchang Public Security Bureau says it seized fake sanitary towels with a resale value of more than 40m yuan ($5.9m; Â£4.8m) in a factory with no disinfection facilities.
The fakes were then sold in supermarkets under the trademarks of leading Chinese brands such as ABC or Whisper, the Nanchang News reported.
It is not yet clear whether they were distributed internationally.
Consumers have been urged to check the packaging before buying because the colouring of the fake products is reportedly slightly darker.
The scandal was one of the biggest talking points in Chinese social media on Thursday.
Tens of thousands of Sina Weibo microblog users posted under the hashtags #Over10MillionFakeSanitaryTowels and #SanitaryNapkins.
Some social media users have called for the "evil" suspects to be given the death penalty.
"Why would someone want to hurt me at my most vulnerable?" asked social media user Sdanler.
Another social media user, zhou6665, said someone she knew bought fake sanitary towels and suffered a urinary tract infection followed by inflammation.
Others warned that women in rural China could be especially at risk, as they have less access to information and are more reliant on cut-price products.
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.


Lindsay Lohan has agreed to turn on the Christmas lights in Kettering this year following an "offensive" tweet about the town on EU referendum night.

MP Philip Hollobone invited the actress to the town to make up for her tweeting "#REMAIN Sorry, but #KETTERING where are you" during the count.
The US actress, who backed Remain in the referendum, has since tweeted that she would be happy to attend.
Mr Hollobone, who backed the Leave campaign, said it was "fantastic news".
Speaking in the House of Commons Conservative MP Mr Hollobone said her tweet implied that she had never heard of Kettering and said it also implied that no-one had heard of the town - before listing the town's accolades.
He added that by turning the lights on she would redeem her political reputation.
Read more on this story and other Northamptonshire news
Miss Lohan replied:  "Direct message me about your offer. Would be happy to light the Christmas tree in #Kettering."
In response to the tweet Mr Hollobone said: "Let's hope she means it. If she wants to come to Kettering and turn the lights on she would be made very welcome."
Miss Lohan emerged as an unlikely EU referendum pundit on results night with a series of social media posts in which she has pleaded with Britain not to leave the European Union.


A government minister has labelled Halloween as a "dangerous" culture.

Liberal Democrat Care and Support Minister Norman Lamb says the event brands the mentally ill as "psychos, schizos or freaks".
At a conference in Manchester, Mr Lamb also urged retailers not to "demonise" people with mental health problems by selling certain outfits ahead of Halloween on 31 October.
"It makes us believe mental illness is something other worldly," he said.
In a speech at the National Child and Adult Services (NCAS) conference, Mr Lamb said: "Everyone should be able to enjoy Halloween but I urge all retailers to behave more responsibly - don't demonise mental illness.
"For me it is horrendous that, this Halloween, a young person experiencing a mental health crisis could easily come across someone in a 'psycho ward' or 'schizo patient' costume, complete with handcuffs and ripped restraints, as much as they could see someone in a Dracula costume."
Last year, supermarket chains Tesco and Asda withdrew two Halloween outfits being sold online as a "psycho ward" outfit and a "mental patient fancy dress costume" after criticism.
Both stores apologised for any offence caused and agreed to make donations to mental health charity, Mind.
"We have to tackle this damaging stigma which prevents young people from seeking help when they need it, or talking about any problems they might be having."
Earlier this month, a health trust boss said some Halloween fancy dress outfits were offensive and damaging.
John Lawlor, chief executive of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (NTW), said people would never wear a "cancer patient" Halloween outfit, and should therefore not treat mental health issues so flippantly.
Last week, Mr Lamb criticised Newbury-based Jokers' Masquerade, telling the BBC it was selling outfits that "reinforced stereotypes".
Jokers' Masquerade's website is still selling an "Adult Skitzo Costume", which is an orange jumpsuit with "a set of black vinyl shackles and belt, plus a restraining face mask to complete the look".
It also offers a "Maximum Restraint Halloween Costume" which contains a straightjacket.
A petition has been launched, calling on Jokers' Masquerade to withdraw the costumes.
The petition organiser wrote: "This is offensive, stigmatising and extremely damaging not only to public perception of mental illness, but also the people affected by it. It's not right, and it should stop."
In a blog post, Jokers' Masquerade's Mike Dawson said the website's staff had been sent "abusive comments, blasphemous and expletive remarks" on social media.
He said the company was disappointed to have been singled out over the "Skitzo" outfit which is also on sale on other websites and that it had withdrawn costumes in the past, including one of Jimmy Savile.
He added that the company did not intend to offend people but wanted customers to be able to make a choice themselves.
"We will not be forced into knee-jerk decisions, but are happy to receive constructive criticism," a statement said.
"These past days, we have listened to the mental health proponents and made various edits to criticised products. This has included renaming product titles, descriptions and category pages to dilute this sensitive area for some."
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A pedestrian has been knocked down and killed by a car in Edinburgh.

Harry Slade, 81, was in Lindsay Road at about 13:15 on Wednesday when he was hit by a Kia Picanto car, sustaining serious injuries.
Members of the public, including an off duty doctor, gave emergency first aid until the Scottish Ambulance Service arrived.
Mr Slade was then taken to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh where he later passed away.
Police are appealing for witnesses.
Sgt Ross Drummond, of Police Scotland, said: "The driver of the Kia stopped immediately and has been helping officers with their inquiry into this incident.
"We are now keen to hear from other motorists or members of the public as we look to establish exactly what happened.
"Officers have managed to speak with a number of those who provided emergency assistance to Mr Slade, but we believe there may be others who witnessed the collision and would urge these individuals to contact police immediately.
"Mr Slade was wearing a distinctive maroon-coloured jacket and a tweed hat. If you remember seeing him around the time of the collision the please get in touch."


Zika virus has spread to more than 20 countries in the Americas.

The unprecedented and explosive outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease is causing fear in the affected regions.
While the effects are generally mild, the greatest concern is about a strongly suspected link with brain defects in babies.
There have been no travel bans, but what advice is there for people visiting the regions?
The Pan American Health Organization is publishing updates on the affected countries.
But the virus is expected to spread throughout North, Central and South America, except Canada and Chile, and people should check for the latest advice before travelling.
Only pregnant women have been advised to reconsider their plans to visit countries affected by Zika.
It is thought that within the female body the virus can travel across the placenta and affect the health of an unborn baby.
There has been a surge in microcephaly - in which the baby's brain does not develop properly - in Brazil.
The UK's National Travel Health Network and Centre says pregnant women should reconsider their travel plans, and that any traveller should seek advice from a health professional before departing.
And it adds that pregnant women who have to travel should take "scrupulous" measures to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes.
The US Centers for Disease Control says women trying to get pregnant should "talk to your doctor about your plans to become pregnant and the risk of Zika virus infection [and] strictly follow steps to prevent mosquito bites during your trip."
Zika outbreak: What you need to know
The CDC says Zika lingers in the blood for approximately a week.
And: "The virus will not cause infections in a baby that is conceived after the virus is cleared from the blood.
"There is currently no evidence that Zika virus infection poses a risk of birth defects in future pregnancies."
Zika is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito which is most active during the day.
People are advised to:
Zika outbreak: The mosquito menace
It is thought the virus can persist in semen for two weeks after a man recovers from an infection.
Public Health England is taking a safety-first approach after two suspected cases of sexual transmission.
The organisation says the risk of spreading the virus through sex is "very low".
But it recommends using condoms if you have a pregnant partner or one who might become pregnant.
This should be done for 28 days after coming home if you have no symptoms, and for six months if Zika symptoms do develop.
The US Centers of Disease Control advises either giving up sex or using condoms for the duration of a pregnancy.
Most infections do not result in symptoms, but they may include:
If you have symptoms such as fever, a rash, joint pain or red eyes, which develop either on holiday or when you return, then you should speak to a doctor.
The US Centers for Disease Control says:
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Brighton and England Under-21 winger Solly March has signed a new four-year contract, keeping him at the Championship club until June 2020.

The 22-year-old is close to a first-team return after suffering a knee injury last December.
March, who came through Brighton's academy, has played 58 times for the Seagulls since his debut in 2013.
"He gives us great options and had an excellent start to last season," Albion boss Chris Hughton said.