Sunday, June 21, 2015

Hidden Hoard of Hazelnuts

Life became more difficult recently when a phrase from an old British TV advertisement popped into my mind, interrupting my train of thought and ruining my day.

The phrase: "hidden hoard of hazelnuts." It was a pitch for an English candy bar, making the rounds on ITV in the last 1960s. But which candy bar?  Not Bounty; not Milky Bar, Cadbury's Flake, or Fry's Crunchie. From out of the past this question haunts me. 

Readers of this blog (if are there any) know, or should know, that my interest in hoards is limited to coins, treasure, pirate gold and the like. But this hidden hoard of hazelnuts thing is a horse of a different color. I have searched here (UK Television Ads, 1955 - 1990) and here (CTVA UK - TV), and elsewhere, all to no avail. I welcome assistance from all quarters in untangling this mystery.



Monday, June 08, 2015

The Reading Hoard

Archaeologists recently found about 300 Roman coins buried on the grounds of a school in Reading, England. These intrepid explorers came upon the hoard while inspecting the area in advance of a construction project. Buried in a pottery urn, they were. 


This find would have been much more interesting had it been made by daring schoolboys, sneaking out in the dead of night to dig holes all over the school property. Were there no school legends of buried treasure on the property, guarded by spiders and grinning skeletons? My own school had such tales. Older boys whispered of a Playboy magazine and a pack of cigarettes hidden in a paint can in our school basement. I actually searched for them.