Hp Sauce

[Caran]

Not having bought any for a lot of years, I remember from my childhood the label showing the Houses of Parliament and the text of the label being in French.
Why would it be in French and is it still in French?

[Mamyalynne]

//From 1917, one panel of the bottle's label was printed, for no particular reason, in French:

Cette sauce de premier choix possède les plus hautes qualités digestives. C'est un assortiment de fruits d'Orient, d'épices et de Vinaigre de 'Malt' pur. Elle est absolument pure, appétissante et délicieuse avec les viandes chaudes ou froides: POISSON, JAMBON, FROMAGE, SALADE, &c, et pour relever le goût des SOUPES, HACHIS, RAGOÛTS, &c.
This was plainly not aimed at French speakers. This bottled brand of GBH of the tastebuds is about as far removed from French cuisine as it's possible to get, and the sauce was never marketed there. It served to stimulate conversation at the dining table in a Britain where knowledge of exotic foreign languages was even more rare than it is today. This quirky addition to the brand image stuck; indeed, the eventual removal of the panel in the 1980s provoked a flurry of letters to The Times://


http://h2g2.com/approved_entry/A40572227

[Buenchico]

No, it's no longer in French but you can sing the words if you want :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHj3CQ5XLmA

[tonyav]

T'was a sad day for Brum when the HP sauce building came down, another landmark gone from the skyline.
http://i2.birminghammail.co.uk/incoming/article110378.ece/BINARY/hp-factory-25011070.jpg

[Jackdaw33]

It was even a sadder day when they changed the recipe!

[Tremendous]

This is interesting:-
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/columnists/miles-kington/art-la-carte-76112.html

"1984 was a dreadful year for many things, but above all for being the date when the makers of HP Sauce decided to drop the French wording from the label."

[Tremendous]

[Tremendous]

See if this works

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIJnP5W_fF8

[tonyav]

Link doesn't work, Tremendous.

[Caran]

Thanks Mamya, that was very informative. I can remember annoying my mother at the table by trying to read it out in French, and mother repeatedly saying "It's rude to read at the table"

[tonyav]

Ah, crossed posts.

[Buenchico]

Nice one, Tremendous.

MF was both a superb writer and a brilliant performer.

[Tremendous]

Buenchico
Many happy hours laughing at him. fondly remembered

[tonyav]

MF was both a superb writer and a brilliant performer.

Agree with that, Chris.

[Jackdaw33]

I cannot disagree with Chico re MF. Brilliant comic and script writer; shame we had to lose him so soon.

[Hopkirk]

I think HP is made in Holland now.

[stuey]

I could send you a bottle of HP with the label in both English and French; however, the French is French-Canadian, and you might not consider that as being "real" French:)