We asked Phil Norman, author of The Great British Tuck Shop, to talk us through five innovative British sweeties from yesteryear.
Freddo
In the early thirties Harry Melbourne, humble apprentice chocolate moulder at Australian confectioner MacRobertson's, made a nervous suggestion to his boss... We do all right selling chocolate mice, he began, only some people, women especially, are scared of mice and stand on chairs and stuff. So perhaps we'd do even better with a choccy... frog? And so they did. When Cadbury bought the firm in 1973, Freddo emigrated to Blighty and became a star in short order. Within a year, he boasted sales of over £2m, even inspiring fan fiction sent to the Cadbury offices from frog-happy admirers. The Milky Bar Kid was never this adored.
Love Hearts
The etiquette of romance has long been boosted by sugar. Victorians conducted fevered liaisons via "conversation lozenges", inscribed with words of wooing. In 1954, Stockport sweetmakers Swizzels Matlow revived the idea, slapping modest proposals on roundels of compressed sherbet for cracker novelties. Such was their success, they soon gained their own tube, to aid the courtly love rituals of playgrounds countrywide. For those less inclined towards edible micro-sonnets, 'Jibes' came embossed with earthier exclamations ("Weirdo!"; "Berk!"), while 'Soccer Shields' replaced the sweet nothings with league teams, and were conscripted to help fill countless pools coupons. Most daringly, Hippy Bits flirted with the counterculture ("Groovy!"; "Swing it!"), but were unluckily launched just in time for infamous Altamont rock festival.
Caramac
Sweets always do well in times of austerity, and this pale slab from Mackintosh of Halifax was thrift personified. Rationing was a fading memory by 1959, but cocoa was still pricey, so a tempting blend of condensed milk, butter and treacle was stamped into ingots and lapped up by kids with junk-status piggy banks. No expense was spared on advertising either – the bar never had a TV spot until 1991, when it finally broke cover accompanied by – what else? - the Tremeloes' Silence is Golden.
Texan
The 1970s was another era of make do and mend, but kids couldn't be so easily bought off anymore. They'd seen images of the USA's land of plenty and wanted big, brash, star-spangled stuff. Rowntree obliged with the Texan, a mighty slab of chocolate-covered nougatine which, though not exactly enormous, did take the average kid a hellishly long time to eat. Many who bought the first wave of Texans are still chewing them now as they check their unit trust portfolios.
Space Dust
Possibly the most controversial confectionery ever made, this infamous powder of sugar infused with compressed gas became an instant craze in 1977, and brought with it a scare story that mixing it with Coke led to something called "exploding stomach syndrome". That turned out to be untrue, as were tabloid allegations that it was carcinogenic, and that it could be used to spike pints of beer. Still, enough unease was generated to put an end to its British life in 1983, although you can still get very similar products, if you know the right people.
What was your favourite sweet as a child? We'd love to know, so tell us in the comments box below
Phil Norman is co-author of The Great British Tuck Shop, the ultimate book of sweetie nostalgia! A colourful, witty and irreverent encyclopedia of all the sweets and crisps of your youth, from Mojos to Rainbow Drops, Space Raiders to Trios, Corona to Kia Ora and everything in between.
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