It’s not uncommon, when a temperature is related in Celcius, or a measurement in a metric scale for the Fahrenheit or  Imperial measurement to be described as ‘in old money’ – “nineteen degrees Celcius or sixty six in old money”.

This can be traced back to February 15th 1971 when Britain introduced decimal currency; prior to that date all prices were in Pounds, Shillings and Pence… with a Pound comprising twenty Shillings, each of twelve Pence.

After ‘D-Day’ the pound comprised one hundred ‘New Pence’ each worth two point four old pennies. This caused considerable confusion, with mnemonics being developed based on the clock face (five new pence equals one old shilling and so on) and for many years people would translate prices back into ‘old money’.

The wider introduction of metric measurements started in the mid sixties and is now virtually complete, with a few not inconsiderable exceptions – street signs, speed limits and car speedometers are still marked in yards and miles, and beer is still served in pints (and halves).

Some traders, particularly market traders, continued to resist metric measures and insisted on selling fruit and vegetables by the pound and ounce and were prosecuted by over enthusiastic local authorities, becoming known as ‘metric martyrs’ but recently the policy of prosecution has been withdrawn.

Another use of the term ‘old money’ is to describe Britain’s aristocracy who, despite having considerable (inherited) weath are more likely to be wearing threadbare corduroy trousers and driving ageing Volvos than conspicuously flaunting their wealth as the ‘nouveau riche’ are prone to do.

A last drink before going home.

There is some dispute about the origin of this phrase, but a popular (although unproven) explanation is the journey from Newgate Prison to Tyburn (around the site of what is now Marble Arch tube station). The story goes that condemned prisoners were allows a drink at an inn or tavern along their route.

 This was their ‘one for the road’.

The legend further goes that one of the guards accompanying the prisoner was not allowed to go into the ale house and had to stay to mind the cart.

This guard was said to be ‘on the waggon’ and thus not allowed to drink, allegedly providing another modern saying.

Johnny Mercer used the phrase in the lyrics of his song One for My Baby (and One More for the Road) – written in 1943 for Fred Astaire. Since then it has proved popular as a title. It was used in 1984 for a Harold Pinter play, a Stephen King short story, a dodgy British film (2004) and a British television series, starring Alan Davies. It has also provided the title for albums by The Kinks (1980), April Wine (1984), Trouble (1994) and Ocean Colour Scene (2004).

The Australians, have modified the phrase to ‘one more for the bitumen’ and a good friend has (allegedly) translated it into Japanese – ‘ossimoto’ – if a friend raises a glass to me and say’s ‘ossimoto’ then a final drink is definitely on the cards!

A Bakewell Tart is a British pastry confection not unlike a jam tart.

These are usually around three inches in diameter with a pastry case containing a light spreading of jam, then almond paste (known as frangipane) topped with icing (frosting). There’s usually half a cherry decoratively placed in the centre. These are widely available and mass produced and are indeed very popular.

However, the residents of Bakewell, a small town in the Peak District about 150 miles north of London, lay claim to the original ‘Bakewell Pudding’.

The story goes that Mrs. Greaves, the landlady at the White Horse Inn in Bakewell (now the Rutland Arms), left instructions for a kitchen assistant to cook a jam tart. The cook misread the recipe instead of making a sweet pastry, simply spread the egg and almond mixture on top of the jam. When cooked, the jam rose through the frangipane mixture.

Bakewell puddings are usually around nine inches in diameter and, while several Inns in the area lay claim to the original ‘mistake’ there is, in Bakewell town centre ‘The Original Bakewell Pudding Shop’ that does a healthy trade in the ‘traditional’ puddings.

Hobson’s Choice is effectively no choice – you get what you’re given.

Thomas Hobson was a coachhouse (livery stable) keeper in Cambridge – about fifty miles north-east of London – in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

To ensure that the horses in his stable were used equally and to prevent the over-use of the more popular or stronger horses, Hobson’s choice was always the horse in the stall nearest the door. 

It clearly paid off, Thomas Hobson was a very successful businessman, in 1614, he helped fund a much needed new water supply into Cambridge by building a causeway from ‘Nine Wells’ near Shelford into Cambridge city centre. The ‘Hobson’s Ditch’ channels still run along Trumpington Street.

Hobson was wealthy enough to be able to acquire and extend ‘Anglesey Abbey’ – a country house about five miles outside Cambridge and now owned by the National Trust.

Hobson’s Choice was quoted in ‘England’s Reformation’ – a poem by Thomas Ward published (posthumously) in 1688 :

Where to elect there is but one,
‘Tis Hobson’s choice—take that, or none.

Hobson’s Choice inspired a play of the same name, by Harold Brighouse and first performed in 1916, it was subsequently filmed in 1954 by the prominent film director David Lean, starring Charles Laughton.  

Blackpool is a seaside holiday resort in the northwest of England, about 30 miles north of Liverpool and about 45 miles north west of Manchester.

As such it is one of Britain’s best known sea-side resorts, having become immensely popular in Victorian times when the cotton mills of Lancashire would close for a week each summer and the mill workers would take the new railways to the coast.  Rather than swamp the resorts, each mill would close for a different week allowing a steady flow of holidaymakers through the summer.

The heart of Blackpool is a stretch of promenade known as the ‘Golden Mile’. This stretches from a large funfair known as ‘the Pleasure Beach’ in the south, past three leisure piers (Blackpool is the only British resort with three) before ending at the northern end at ‘Blackpool Tower’.

 The promenade is served by electric trams which are brightly and spectacularly illuminated each autumn.

Blackpool Tower

Blackpool Tower was constructed in 1894 after the then Mayor of Blackpool returned, inspired by the Eiffel Tower, from the  Paris Exhibition in 1889 .

Blackpool’s tower rises to a height of nearly 520 feet, around two thirds the height of the Eiffel Tower. Nevertheless it can be seen for a radius of about thirty miles.

At the base of the tower is an extensive leisure complex – the ‘Winter Gardens’ that include an opera house and ballroom – which in turn is home to a massive Wurlitzer organ.

Blackpool Lights

Blackpool is famous for its electric illuminations which were introduced in 1879 and actually predate Edison’s patent of the light-bulb.  

The lights comprise over a million bulbs and extend for some six miles, accompanied by the illuminated trams. They are illuminated each evening for sixty six days from early September until November, thus extending the resort’s ’season’ beyond that of most seaside resorts.

Like the Christmas lights in London’s West End the ‘turning on of the lights’ has been performed each year since 1934 with considerable fanfare by a topical celebrity.

Blackpool is increasingly turning to renewable energy to power the illuminations and there are plans for the display to be carbon neutral by 2010.