Sunday 20 May 2018

Roger Moore's One Wish

As a man with a bit of a weakness for Magnums, I was intrigued to learn that we owe the invention of the world-conquering choc ice on a stick to the legendary actor Roger Moore, that master of the mobile eyebrow. Well, sort of. This is one of those stories that hovers somewhere between fact and urban myth...
  After Sir Roger's death, a journalist friend recalled that he had told her how, in an interview in the Sixties, he once said that, if he could have one wish and meet one person, he would like to meet 'Mr Wall's' and ask him why they didn't make a choc ice on a stick. 'I didn't know at the time,' recalled Moore ruefully, 'but other people like Claire Bloom were being asked the same question and they wanted to meet Gandhi or Jesus.' But apparently 'Mr Wall's' was delighted with Moore's answer and sent him some kind of prototype Magnum, but as it was in the form of a cake it was clearly a very long way from the finished product, which indeed didn't appear until the Nineties.
  Happily Sir Roger lived long enough to enjoy many a Magnum (despite being diabetic). His favourite was the Black Espresso, of which he permitted himself two a week. He claimed to be able to make one last a full half hour, which is impressive. The Black Espresso is my favourite too, but I rarely come across it these days, amid all the fancy new flavours.
  If I had one request to make of 'Mr Wall's', it would be to find a way to stop the chocolate falling off the ice cream as you bite into your Magnum.

4 comments:

  1. The men in white coats at Unilever obviously gave the 'falling chocolate' problem some thought - for about ten minutes, before a really bright spark came up with the Mini-Magnum. This two-pronged marketing meesterwerk solves the problem of ruined lapels by making it possible to get the whole lolly into your gob with one..er..thrust. On a hot day, the whole operation is over in about 20 seconds, after which (obviously) any Magnum fan will immediately want another. A box of six, if I am about the place, is usually gone in less than an hour, giving me enough time before the match starts to Google 'diabetes'.
    The other prong for the Cloggies is the upward swing on the sales-graph. Simples!

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  2. Of course! Mrs N usually has a pack of mini-Magnums in the fridge. If only they made a mini Black Espresso...

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  3. shurely any fule kno almond mini magnums are the best ones

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  4. Hmmm the chocolate's a bit milky for me...

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