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We all deserve a lil' treat to perk us up in the day. But have you ever stopped to think about the history behind your fave sugary snacks?
In the 1800s, ordinary Brits developed a sweet tooth. And one market town 12 miles northeast of Liverpool made use of it. Ormskirk became famous for its gingerbread recipe and the working-class 'Gingerbread Ladies' who sold the snack out of wicker baskets. These Victorian girl-bosses were savvy entrepreneurs who established businesses they passed down to their daughters and nieces.
But what's the wider backstory of Ormskirk gingerbread? Ingredients have huge histories of their own, and the British Empire is pretty significant when it comes to the history of sugar and spice and all things not so nice. How do we grapple with the way that colonial history is intertwined with everyday British life? Follow the crumbs that link this market town in Lancashire to countries across the Atlantic...
Join History Hun (Anouska Lewis) on her trip to Ormskirk as she tastes some gingerbread at a local bakery, explores the history of Demerara sugar with a Caribbean historian, and discusses the sinister shadow of this snack with locals at the annual Ormskirk Gingerbread Festival.
History Hun is on a mission to prove that no hometown is boring. Because everywhere has a history and history's never boring!!
She's spotlighting hidden histories from misjudged places across the UK and supplying you with a few history-hun-facts along the way x
Hometown Boring? is a Mags Creative production for BBC Sounds Audio Lab
Written, produced and presented by Anouska Lewis Senior Producer - Ryan Nile Editors - Pulama Kaufman and Ryan Nile Sound Design - Pulama Kaufman and Ryan Nile Executive Producers - James Norman Fyfe and Kit Milsom Theme Music - Kit Milsom Artwork - Ellie Walmsley Additional support - Amanda Birbara Commissioning Editor - Khaliq Meer Special thanks to the Ormskirk Community Partnership, Dave Mutch, David Birks and Peter Scott
