\n
The first Christmas crackers were known as \u2018Bangs of Expectation\u2019.<\/p>\n
Crackers came about because confectioner Tom Smith needed a way to market French-style sweets wrapped in paper. The story goes that he was inspired to add an explosive element by the sight of a log crackling on the fire. But in reality, it was his brother who came up with the idea, possibly inspired by magic tricks he\u2019d witnessed while working in the music halls.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/cracker-12-22.jpg?resize=500%2C306\")
<\/p>\n
Launched in the late-1840s, Tom Smith\u2019s crackers sparked a whole new Christmas custom. The company still exists today, and supplies crackers for the royal family each Christmas<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BANGS OF EXPECTATION The first Christmas crackers were known as \u2018Bangs of Expectation\u2019. Crackers came about because confectioner Tom Smith needed a way to market French-style sweets wrapped in paper. The story goes that he was inspired to add an explosive element by the sight of a log crackling on the fire. But in reality, it was his brother who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[334,228],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-3hf","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5429,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5429","url_meta":{"origin":12601,"position":0},"title":"The Final Walk of 2018","author":"Alan Williams","date":"6th January 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The living with cancer strollers had an unusual and unprecedented experience on their final walk of 2018. The walkers got wet! Since its inauguration the walkers have been fortunate every month to walk in dry, sunny conditions. The weather did not dampen our enthusiasm, although our Christmas hats wilted in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Living With Cancer Strollers"","block_context":{"text":"Living With Cancer Strollers","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=307"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/20181206_121019-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6801,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6801","url_meta":{"origin":12601,"position":1},"title":"John Sheen Talk","author":"Alan Williams","date":"10th December 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"It was a pleasure to welcome John Sheen for his third and final talk. This talk was entitled \u2018Christmas Crackers\u2019 and was divided into twelve separate items representing the twelve days of Christmas. We enjoyed a selection of poems, prose, a joke, a mini quiz and a very funny recipe\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tuesday Group"","block_context":{"text":"Tuesday Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=43"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1640,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=1640","url_meta":{"origin":12601,"position":2},"title":"October Report and Coming Up","author":"Alan Williams","date":"4th November 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 A welcome was extended to all at our October meeting and especially to our visitor, Ros. We hope she will join us again in the future. Our speaker was John Sheen and using Christmas crackers in a in the shape of a clock face as a starting point,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Womens Institute"","block_context":{"text":"Womens Institute","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=37"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7009,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=7009","url_meta":{"origin":12601,"position":3},"title":"CHRISTMAS\/NEW YEAR RECYCLING","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st January 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 CHRISTMAS\/NEW YEAR RECYCLING \u00a0 Up to and including Friday 10th January the restriction on 2 black bags per household does NOT apply. 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The book on offer in December, A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks was not so warmly received by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8766,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8766","url_meta":{"origin":12601,"position":5},"title":"What’s On Christmas Cover","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th November 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"What's On Christmas Cover \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/covers.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/covers.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/covers.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/covers.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12601"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12601"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12602,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12601\/revisions\/12602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}