narachamesuke (@narachamesuke) - Twitter Profile

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Frank Sinatra playing with his dog Ringo. A bowl of cigarettes in the middle of the table. Back when we had a proper country. Palm Springs, 1965

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trailcam@Trail_Cams·17m

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Muse@xmuse_·1d

In the south of France, cherry farmers light fires beneath the trees to keep the frost away. A fragile season protected by flame and a beautiful sight to see.

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dan barker@danbarker·1d

Weird trivia: KitKats are named after a mutton pie, invented by a man called Chris, not far from Fleet Street. Rowntree trademarked the names 'Kit Cat' and 'Kit Kat' in 1911, a couple of years after competitor Maynards release Wine Gums, which competed with Rowntree's own 'Fruit Gums'. (side trivia: when Wine Gums were first released they were marketed literally as an alternative to wine. Both Maynards and Rowntree weren't keen on people drinking, and Rowntree themselves had a line of hot chocolate called 'Elect' that was marketed as an alternative to beer). Anyway... until that point, Rowntree had relied largely on just having category name products (hence 'fruit gums', 'fruit pastilles' being such generic names), but started picking up trademarks. They registered 'Kit Kat' and 'Kit Cat' in 1911, and first used the name 'KitKat' about 10 years later, initially as a short-lived chocolate selection box. They were still not really focused on brands but, a few years later, they hired J Walter Thompson to conduct market research on consumer needs, which resulted in pushing much more into them: Black Magic, Aero, Smarties, Polo were all developed in the years to come. And... in the middle of that, in 1935, they wanted to launch what they referred to as a "chocolate bar that a man could take to work in his pack up" (a suggestion from a staff feedback initiative). They developed this product and referred to it initially as the 'Chocolate Crisp'. Having moved from generic categories on other products to brand names, they sought something better: At the time, Rowntree had a 'Company Psychologist' called Nigel Balchin, who was responsible for the 'Black Magic' brand. It seems that he noticed they had these old trademarks on the books for 'Kit Cat' and 'Kit Kat', and swapped the clumsy 'Chocolate Crisp' for 'Kit Kat'. The rest is history, and they now sell 5 billion of them a year: chocolate bars that a man (or woman) can take to work in their pack up. Returning to the pies: The original Kit Kat Club (not to be confused with the Berlin nightclub, or Cabaret destination), from where the inspiration for first trademarking the KitKat name came, was an 18 century literary and political club, with members including the UK's first de facto prime minister Robert Walpole. In later years the Kit Kat Club met on The Strand, at what is now the newly reopened Simpsons in the Strand. But originally they met in a tavern on Shire Lane (now part of the Royal Courts of Justice). That original tavern was run by a piemaker called Christopher Catling (referred to in a note at the time as 'a Pudding Pye man'). Some readers will know that 'Kit' is a nickname for people called Christopher (eg. Kit Harington is actually called Christopher), and therefore Chris Catling - the pie man - was colloquially known as Kit Cat, and his mutton pies were sold as Kit Cats. As a result of the literary club meeting at his shop, they called themselves 'the Kit Kat Club', and 'Kit Kat' became a way more famous name than a local pie shop may ordinarily achieve. Therefore, through a series of odd disjointed steps, and a prime minister, and company psychologist, and temperance promoters, KitKats are named after mutton pies, created by a 'pudding pye man' called Chris.