Feeling My Age

The Answer Me This podcast by Helen Zaltzman and Olly Mann is required listening in our house and deservedly won the Sony Academy Radio Award this year for Best Internet Programme. The latest edition has an interesting question and an even more interesting answer on the subject of Lyle’s Golden Syrup.

I remember as a child puzzling over the dead lion logo that adorns the tins. Helen and Olly – with interjections from their soundman Martin Austwick – manage to make the explanation very funny in the clip above, but the dry facts are also on Wikipedia:

“Golden syrup was invented in 1883 by Scottish businessman Abram Lyle. The iconic green and gold tins in which Lyle’s golden syrup is sold today were introduced in 1885. The slogan “Out of the strong came forth sweetness”  is a reference to the Biblical story in which Samson was travelling to the land of the Philistines in search of a wife. During the journey he killed a lion, and when he passed the same spot on his return he noticed that a swarm of bees had formed a comb of honey in the carcass. Abram Lyle was a deeply religious man, and it has been suggested that they refer either to the strength of the Lyle company or of the tins in which its syrup is sold. In 2006 Guinness World Records declared the mark to be Britain’s oldest brand.”