Freddos are just bonzer!
QUESTION Are Freddo chocolate bars imported from Australia?
THEY are, and there’s a good reason why – they were invented in Australia and have been made there since 1930.
The name is the giveaway. If it had been invented in these islands, it would be called Freddy the Frog – try saying ‘Freddo’ in an Australian accent.
Freddo was introduced to Australia by MacRobertson’s Confectionery Company of Victoria back in 1930.
MacRobertson’s was sold to Cadbury in 1967, which incorporated the froggy icon into its range.
MacRobertson’s was founded by a Victoria legend, Macpherson Robertson (1859-1945).
The son of Scottish immigrants, he was born into poverty.
Starting out using a ‘nailcan’ to make boiled sweets, he went on to establish MacRobertson’s Steam Confectionery Works in the 1880s, which became Australia’s biggest confectioners.
Renamed MacRobertson’s at the turn of the century, the business became a selfcontained chocolate empire, located in a 35-acre cluster of buildings in Fitzroy, Melbourne.
By 1920, MacRobertson’s employed 2,500 people and its owner was the highest taxpayer in Australia.
MacRobertson’s became known for its exquisite packaging and for products such as Cherry Ripe, Mac Mints, Target Toffee, Columbite Caramels, and Clinkers.
In 1930, Robertson wanted to introduce a new range to celebrate the company’s 50 years in the business. One of these was a onepenny sweet aimed at children.
He’d been considering a chocolate mouse, until an 18-yearold employee called Harry Melbourne claimed it wouldn’t sell ‘because women and children are afraid of mice’.
He suggested a frog instead, and that it be named Freddo ‘after my best mate’.
He presented a sample three days later and Freddo was born.
They were an instant success. The original looked more frog-like than it does today, was unwrapped and had the MacRobertson’s signature engraved on the back of the chocolate.
In 1962, Freddo became Australia’s first animated cartoon TV character when the Freddo the Frog series, sponsored by MacRobertson’s, appeared on Channel Nine.
He was joined by his pals Drongo, Flash Jack, Kanga and Wocka.
Robertson died in 1945. He had always resisted a takeover from Cadbury, which had long coveted the Aussie giant, but his family finally relented in 1967.
Thus, Freddo made it to the far side of the world until it was withdrawn in 1979, then relaunched in 1994. Cadbury was then taken over by Kraft in 2010 (now Mondelez International). Tom Davies, Gerringong,
New South Wales.
QUESTION What is the stone in the middle of Chester racecourse?
CHESTER racecourse is one of the best settings for horse racing in England, in a perfect natural amphitheatre between Chester Roman Walls and the River Dee.
It has also been officially recognised as the ‘oldest racecourse still in operation’ by Guinness World Records and its earliest races have been cited as happening in the early 1500s.
It was created as the river silted up over time and an island formed, known by the local people as the ‘Roodee’, a name that derives from ‘Roodeye’ or ‘Island of the Cross’, since a plain stone cross was located on the bank, or island of land, that had been left exposed when the river was flooded by the tides. Legend has it that the stone we see today is the remains of the cross that marked where a statue of the Virgin Mary was buried after falling on and killing Lady Trawst, the wife of Sytsylht, the Governor of Hawarden, a village on the Wales-England border, in the ninth century. A jury found the Holy Rood guilty of wilful murder and at first proposed the statue be hanged, before settling on burying it instead. Whether this tale is true is very much open to question; others believe it to be a relic from a nearby Benedictine nunnery. One thing for certain is that it is the remains of a stone cross or ‘rood’ dating from medieval times. Chester in the Roman period was known as Deva, after the River Dee. Its modern name is derived from the Latin ‘castra’, meaning a camp. David Urquhart, Burntisland, Fife.
QUESTION Did Ronald Reagan sack striking air traffic controllers and replace them all?
ON AUGUST 3, 1981, nearly 13,000 of 17,000 members of the U.S. air traffic controllers’ union, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organisation (Patco), walked out after contract negotiations with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) collapsed.
Ronald Reagan, recently inaugurated US president ordered them to return to work, they mostly refused, and after 48 hours he fired 11,359 air-traffic controllers.
Patco had been established in 1968 and during the 1970s, it was successful in using a series of strikes to gain retirement and
retraining benefits for its members. Patco began contract negotiations with the FAA in February 1981.
Its main goals were a 32-hour working week, a $10,000 raise for all its members, and a better retirement package.
When they could not agree, a nationwide strike was called, leading to the cancellation of around 7,000 flights.
A furious Ronald Reagan called the strike illegal and threatened to fire any controller who had not returned to work within 48 hours.
Robert Poli, the president of Patco, was found in contempt by a federal judge and ordered to pay $1,000 a day in fines.
While the strike slowed air travel around the country, it was not as disruptive as Patco had hoped, as about 80% of flights remained unaffected.
Patco lost the public relations battle, too, as it was estimated that the public backed Reagan over the union by nearly a two-toone margin.
Reagan carried out his threat and the federal government fired the 11,359 air traffic controllers. he also declared a lifetime ban on the rehiring of the strikers by the FAA. Reagan then began replacing them with a combination of about 3,000 supervisors, 2,000 nonstriking air traffic controllers, and 900 military controllers.
On August 17, the FAA began accepting applications for new air traffic controllers, and on October 22 the Federal Labour Relations Authority decertified Patco.
Frances Holland, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.
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