Sweet Memories

For several years I worked with the Rowntrees company researching consumer attitudes to their products. Some of the revelations were amazing - the Freudian meanings hidden in a Walnut Whip should have had the product banned for a start. There was even a phase when I was the sole defender of the phrase ‘Have a break, have a Kit-Kat’, while their advertising agency were crazy enough to want to change it. It made me realise how important brands can be to people, even if the products which go with them are just chocolate and biscuit.

An exhibition starting in London this month might be of interest to anyone who remembers buying brands of sweets and chocolates as kids. It is on at the Museum of Brands (www.museumofbrands.com), called ‘Sweet Sixties’, and is a fascinating collection of packages from brands which many of us will remember. Some have changed packaging dramatically, some have changed names (what was wrong with Opal Fruits, anyway?), others have simply vanished.

Dear old Kit Kat survives in newer packaging, but most people will remember the strange delights of the old foil inners, which could be gently pressured so that the Rowntrees name appeared through the foil, before a neat move with the thumb cut a single finger off the biscuit.

Another exhibition running concurrently in the same location deals with the art of biscuit packaging - again, some wonderful designs from the early 20th century, nostalgic and evocative.

The entire museum started with one person, Robert Opie, deciding to start collecting everyday packaging. It covers masses of different products, with around 12,000 items on show, including games, fads, postcards, as well as product packaging. Altogether an amazing nostalgic trip - and there is a senior concession available.

2 Colville Mews, Lonsdale Road, Notting Hill, London, W11 2AR. Tel: +44 (0)20 7908 0880The Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising

Pension Credit

All pensioners over 60 should take a moment to check if they qualify for Pension Credit. Government figures suggest that as many as 1.8 million households in the UK should be claiming pension credit, but are not doing so. There are already 2.7 million who are claiming, but clearly not everyone who could be helped has made a claim.

Essentially, the Pension Credit payment ensures that no pensioner has to live on less than £124.05 per week. If their income is below this figure, then they may well be able to claim from the government to bring it up to this figure.

Unlike many benefit claims, this one is fairly simple and straightforward. It can be claimed by one phone call to 0800 99 1234 (that is a freephone number) and the same call can deal with housing benefit and council tax benefit, if relevant. No forms need to be filled in beforehand. There may also be benefits concerning home insulation and heating, which can also be dealt with at the same time.

Owning your own home, or having savings, does not necessarily disqualify people from claiming these benefits - three quarters of those receiving the benefit have savings, and around half own their own home.

You may know someone less capable than yourself of claiming this help - think about helping them to get the best deal they can from the state.

The English Olimpicks

While the excitement over our GB team winners in the Beijing Olympics is understandable, we risk forgetting about the Games in which all medals have been won by the British entries. These are the English Olimpicks, which have been held since 1612 in the Cotswolds, with only some interference from the unpleasantness caused by Cromwell.

They were started by Robert Dover, in the tradition of the ancient games. The spectacle was probably less than we saw at Beijing, but there was a temporary wooden castle wheeled on each year, complete with cannons, so some attempt was made at showmanship - probably a bit more exciting than a London bus, in fact.

The games involved were rather violent, and no mention seems to have been made of a synchronised swimming event. Wrestling was a major sport, later branching out into the specialist version called shin-kicking, which - rather in the way our cyclists had highly evolved equipment - lead to the development of special spiked boots.

The wrestling seems to have been more full-blooded than any modern equivalent, as there is a record of one contestant dying after his entrails had been removed in the contest. i bet nobody called him lily-livered after that.

Another record is of a sword fight between Sir German Poole and Mr Hutchinson. Poole cut off three of Hutchinson’s fingers before the latter had even drawn his sword. Hutchinson’s response was to slice off Poole’s nose. Fair enough, except that he picked it up, popped it into his pocket, and ran off, so that the nose could not be sown back in place. This was regarded as less than sporting, and some nasty gossip spread about the behaviour.

King James approved of the whole activity, and gave a suit of his old clothes to be worn by Dover at the ceremonies.

Running was part of the games, but presumably timing sprinters could have proved challenging; the 100 yards being timed by burning a candle or  - when fine - by sundial might have been less than accurate.

Somehow the whole thing fits in well with the idea of Boris running our Olympics, and the return of Whiff Whaff.

There is a splendid, eccentric book about this - The First Ever English Olimipick Games by Celia Haddon - which is well worth digging out if you can find it.