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IT’S time to get pie-eyed because today we are celebrating British Pie Week! Yes, it’s the perfect excuse to scoff plenty of tasty treats.

But how much do you know about delicious pies? Here NADINE LINGE presents 15 mouthwatering facts...

THE history of pies may go as far back as the ancient Egyptians who used bread dough to enclose a filling around 8,000 years ago.

The ancient Romans used a pastry crust to keep ingredients fresh, then as a baking dish. The cooked pastry was usually then thrown away.

The old term for the pastry around a pie filling was coffyn or coffin.

Technically, a pie should be enclosed in pastry, not just have a pastry lid.

“Surprise pies” in 16th

Century

England involved a creature jumping out when it was cut open, such as frogs, squirrels and foxes.

In 1644 Oliver Cromwell, above, banned pies as he deemed them a “pagan form of pleasure”. The ban was lifted in 1660.

In Shakespeare’s play Titus Andronicus, Titus gained revenge on Queen Tamora by baking her sons into a pie.

Records suggest a dwarf jumped out from a pie at a dinner that was attended by Charles I.

Since medieval times the people of Gloucester have

traditionally sent pies containing eels called lampreys to Royal coronations and jubilees.

The pie industry in the UK is worth well over £1billion a year, with over £145million from Melton Mowbray pork pies alone.

Three quarters of us enjoy a pie at least once a month.

Research shows Brummies prefer chicken and mushroom pie, Sheffield folk go for meat and potato, people from Leeds like steak and ale, Londoners go for pork pies and steak and kidney, and Norwich types like fish pie.

The earliest known reference to slapping a custard pie in someone’s face was in 1915.

Figures from Pieminister show sales of vegan products soared by 689% from 2017 to 2018, while sales of gluten-free options went up 47%

The annual World Pie Eating Championship is held at Harry’s Bar in Wigan. In December 2018 Martin Appleton-Clare was crowned champion for the fifth time, polishing off a chicken pie in 19.58 seconds.