For almost a century Huntley & Palmers
biscuit tins have been seen on the tea tables of well-to-do Brits. They came in many styles and with many different designs on them.
What few of
those biscuit-eating folk realized is that some of the tins contained a surprise... not in the
biscuits themselves, but in the illustration on the outside of the tin. Around 1970
a rogue employee, got his own back for his imminent redundancy by hiding
sexually explicit scenes in the illustrations.
This tin shows two dogs having
sex in the flowerbed. Reuters rather pruriently
prudishly blurred the cover of the tin in the picture accompanying their
article, so you can't see the dogs, but luckily an auctioneer’s has a picture
of the tin, in which you can just see the dogs. They're in the flowerbed on the
right-hand side.
There is also a pot of
jam with ‘shit’ on the label and two naked lovers in
a flowerbed. Production went on for a
number of years before these things were spotted and the picture changed. Nowadays the few surviving examples of the
tin can fetch up to £5,000 at auction.
This made me laugh until I had tears in my eyes.
ReplyDeleteFascinating! I guess I would have spotted these parts of the illustrations as a child, but would not have asked anyone about them. I was one to look VERY closely at pictures in books and on walls and on food packaging, always expecting the unexpected.
ReplyDeleteWhere do you find these gems?
ReplyDeleteWasting my time reading silly 'factoid' books.
ReplyDeleteHeeheehee! That's one way to get your revenge!
ReplyDeleteThere's only one word for stuff like that. FABULOUS.
ReplyDeleteToo funny - someone got his/revenge for something or other.
ReplyDeleteGood grief! What some people will pay to get their kicks! Someone did something similar with one of Disney's cartoon characters. Don't remember which one.I remember having a hard time convincing some 7th graders that some record covers,(vinyl ones) have subversive or perhaps offensive things woven into their designs. It was entirely un-thought of concept to them but a good opportunity to teach something about human nature.
ReplyDeleteOh you English! I thought you all were very "proper"! This made me laugh and all I could think of was "Jolly good! Somebody has a naughty sense of humor!" Carry on!
ReplyDeleteThis really made me laugh. How wonderful. I suppose the tin is highly collectable now but if I ever spot one in a charity shop I will definitely buy!
ReplyDeleteHow funny!
ReplyDeleteThis post cracked me right up...I never knew.
ReplyDelete