I gave egg on toast to French
AN RAF veteran has discovered that he introduced the French to fried eggs on toast after being shot down by the Nazis in 1944.
Thomas Maxwell, 93, had to parachute out of his Lancaster bomber when it was hit by flak over France.
A local family found the terrified airman, then aged 19, and hid him at their farm in Bazancourt for 10 days.
One morning, Tom got the frying pan and, in sign language, asked the farmer’s wife, Tancre de Maertens, for fried egg on toast.
His host laughed but after D-Day, she made the same dish for all the advancing Allied troops and “Oeuf sur le pain grille” was soon being served in local cafes.
Irish-born Tom, who now lives near Exeter, Devon, only discovered that his meal request had sparked a French revolution decades later. Researchers probing crash sites of Allied aircraft visited the farm and spoke to the wife’s son.
Tom said: “They ended up talking to him and all these stories came out, including the one about fried eggs on toast. He said his mother had shared the story with friends, who had laughed at this crazy Irishman. It was just my favourite dish at the time, that’s all.”