Brian Earl

And you would preserve it by adding sugar and dried fruit. Over the years, the meat was taken out and it was just the dried fruit and the sugar. And we now have the version that we're familiar with today, which is usually this sugar, fruit. Usually you preserve it with a little bit of alcohol so it has a bit of a boozy kick and then wrapped up in a pastry shell.

Well, word is that during the Puritans ban on Christmas in England, mince pies in particular were banned and that you could get fined for baking one. I did a chapter on this in the book where I interviewed this journalist from the BBC who said she looked into that in particular. And it turns out there's probably not a lot of historical accuracy to calling out mince pies in particular.

Well, word is that during the Puritans ban on Christmas in England, mince pies in particular were banned and that you could get fined for baking one. I did a chapter on this in the book where I interviewed this journalist from the BBC who said she looked into that in particular. And it turns out there's probably not a lot of historical accuracy to calling out mince pies in particular.

Well, word is that during the Puritans ban on Christmas in England, mince pies in particular were banned and that you could get fined for baking one. I did a chapter on this in the book where I interviewed this journalist from the BBC who said she looked into that in particular. And it turns out there's probably not a lot of historical accuracy to calling out mince pies in particular.

And it's more that a legend spread about the Puritans really being petty about mince pies, you know, as a way to sort of mock just how ridiculous the ban on Christmas had become.

And it's more that a legend spread about the Puritans really being petty about mince pies, you know, as a way to sort of mock just how ridiculous the ban on Christmas had become.

And it's more that a legend spread about the Puritans really being petty about mince pies, you know, as a way to sort of mock just how ridiculous the ban on Christmas had become.

This was back in the 1930s. The Montgomery Ward department store would hand out little booklets to shoppers. So parents would come in, they'd give something to the kids to keep them busy while the parents shopped. And what they did is they tapped a copywriter named Robert L. May.

This was back in the 1930s. The Montgomery Ward department store would hand out little booklets to shoppers. So parents would come in, they'd give something to the kids to keep them busy while the parents shopped. And what they did is they tapped a copywriter named Robert L. May.

This was back in the 1930s. The Montgomery Ward department store would hand out little booklets to shoppers. So parents would come in, they'd give something to the kids to keep them busy while the parents shopped. And what they did is they tapped a copywriter named Robert L. May.

and said what we'd like you to do is come up with something for this year's christmas season and so he had a daughter who really loved the reindeer exhibit at the zoo and the legend goes it's probably a mixture of fact and legend that he got the notion when he was driving home one night and it was very foggy and he kind of put two and two together he wanted to do something his daughter would like he wanted to make a story about a reindeer who gets caught in the fog

and said what we'd like you to do is come up with something for this year's christmas season and so he had a daughter who really loved the reindeer exhibit at the zoo and the legend goes it's probably a mixture of fact and legend that he got the notion when he was driving home one night and it was very foggy and he kind of put two and two together he wanted to do something his daughter would like he wanted to make a story about a reindeer who gets caught in the fog

and said what we'd like you to do is come up with something for this year's christmas season and so he had a daughter who really loved the reindeer exhibit at the zoo and the legend goes it's probably a mixture of fact and legend that he got the notion when he was driving home one night and it was very foggy and he kind of put two and two together he wanted to do something his daughter would like he wanted to make a story about a reindeer who gets caught in the fog

So he wrote up the story and he worked with the commercial artist there to kind of do a little bit of a mock-up. And he took it to his bosses and they just rejected it. They said, no way. I don't want to do this. This doesn't work. He tweaked it a little bit.

So he wrote up the story and he worked with the commercial artist there to kind of do a little bit of a mock-up. And he took it to his bosses and they just rejected it. They said, no way. I don't want to do this. This doesn't work. He tweaked it a little bit.

So he wrote up the story and he worked with the commercial artist there to kind of do a little bit of a mock-up. And he took it to his bosses and they just rejected it. They said, no way. I don't want to do this. This doesn't work. He tweaked it a little bit.

and part of the feedback that he got was the red nose this was a time when wc fields was really popular in the 1930s and they said well i think the red nose people are going to associate that with with um alcoholism or someone being a drunkard we don't want that but anyway he eventually got them to to agree so they printed up a bunch of copies of this booklet which it's a story told in rhyming verse you can find it pretty easily online and eventually it just sold out

and part of the feedback that he got was the red nose this was a time when wc fields was really popular in the 1930s and they said well i think the red nose people are going to associate that with with um alcoholism or someone being a drunkard we don't want that but anyway he eventually got them to to agree so they printed up a bunch of copies of this booklet which it's a story told in rhyming verse you can find it pretty easily online and eventually it just sold out

and part of the feedback that he got was the red nose this was a time when wc fields was really popular in the 1930s and they said well i think the red nose people are going to associate that with with um alcoholism or someone being a drunkard we don't want that but anyway he eventually got them to to agree so they printed up a bunch of copies of this booklet which it's a story told in rhyming verse you can find it pretty easily online and eventually it just sold out

Or not sold out. They gave it away. They ran out. And then something really interesting happened where Montgomery Ward gave the rights to the story over to Robert L. May, which is really unusual. He was just a copywriter who worked for the company.