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Many
everyday items taken for granted today
had to be 'invented' or 'discovered' and many
are known by the names of the people who first
set the trend. When
it comes to wearing apparel it is rather surprising how many of the
garments we wear were ' invented' by men - and military men at that!
 Lord
Cardigan started a fashion during The Crimean War that still exists
today. At the Battle of Balaclava in 1854 he wore a knitted,
woollen over-waistcoat to keep out the bitter cold of the Crimean
winter. The Balaclava helmet ( popular with modern bank
robbers!) was also worn for the first time in this battle. The
Crimean War seems to have been in the forefront of fashion
innovations, as Lord Raglan, the British Commander, had an overcoat
made without shoulder seams and this Raglan style is still worn
today. Everyone
today owns a pair of Wellington boots, affectionately known as 'Wellies'
- indispensable during our long wet British winters! The Iron Duke,
Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington (1769-1852) wore
these at the Battle of Waterloo and they have been popular ever
since. A
man called William Coke, a Norfolk landowner, became irritated when
his tall riding hat was repeatedly knocked off his head by
overhanging branches. A famous hatter of the period, a Mr. Beaulieu,
was approached in the 1800's to make him a more suitable hat.
Mr Beaulieu designed a hard, lower-crowned hat for him and it became
known as a Bowler! The Bowler Hat is known in the US as the
Derby Hat. Coming
more up-to-date with fashion, the light-weight wool jacket, worn
instead of a tail-coat, called a Tuxedo, was introduced to the U.S.
from Europe by Griswold Lorillard who wore one at a ball held at the
Tuxedo Club, Tuxedo Park in Tuxedo County, New York State in 1886. Grog
is rum diluted with water and it was named after the British Admiral
Edward Vernon (1684 - 1757). It was introduced in 1740 in an attempt
to prevent scurvy. It was of course useless for this purpose!
Vernon's nickname was Old Grog because he always wore a cloak made
of grogram, a coarse mixture of silk and wool, hence the nickname
'Grog'. Sailors still call Public Houses 'Grog shops'!
 A
sandwich has always been a very popular snack, but the first to eat
one was the Earl of Sandwich (1718 - 1792). He was a dedicated
gambler and refused to leave the gaming tables to eat. He once
played for 24 hours non-stop! During one of these marathon gambling
sessions he ordered a waiter to bring him a piece of ham between two
pieces of bread, and so invented the Sandwich! Dame
Nellie Melba, the Australian operatic soprano gave her name to two
dishes: Melba Toast, which is very thin, narrow slices of toast, and
Peach Melba. Peach Melba is peaches with vanilla ice-cream
covered in raspberry sauce. This delicious dessert was created
for Dame Nellie in 1892 by the famous chef-de-cuisine of the Savoy
Hotel in London. His name was Auguste Escoffier. More
food - a sweet tea-cake, called a Sally Lunn was first baked by a
pastry cook called Sally Lunn in Bath in 1800, and is still very
popular at English tea parties. There
is a story that the fruit jam we call Marmalade, so popular at the
English breakfast table, was originally made for Mary Queen of Scots
(1542 - 1587) to help her when she was suffering from
sea-sickness. The name then was Marie Malade (sick Mary)! ©
E.P.C
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