FRUIT

See Also: FOOD

Apple

Cox's Pippin

In 1820 Richard Cox (c.1766-1845) retired from the Black Eagle Brewery. He moved to Colnbook in Buckinghamshire, where he, grew his first Cox's pippin 1825. He is buried in Harmondsworth churchyard.

Location: The Black Eagle Brewery, 27 Whites Grounds, SE1 3JZ

St Mary's Church, High Street, Harmondsworth, UB7 0AQ

Bananas

Location: The Donmar Warehouse, 41 Earlham Street, WC2H 9LX. A former banana warehouse that is now a theatre.

See Also: FRINGE THEATRES & SMALL THEATRES The Donmar Warehouse

Banana Skins

The comic motif of slipping on banana skins is thought to have originated in the films of Charlie Chaplins. Originally, horse dung had been used but came to be thought to be distasteful.

The Cavendish

In 1829 Joseph Paxton, in his role as the head gardener at Chatsworth in Derbyshire, imported a banana plant from Mauritius, it having originally come from China. A number were given to missionaries who established plantations on Samoa and other Pacific islands. It was grown in Trinidad. At the start of the 1950s the Gros Michel was the globally dominant banana. However, during the decade it was struck by race 1 (or Panama) fungus. The Cavendishi succeeded became the first banana . Race 1 evolved into TR4, which in the 1990s started attacking Cavendishi.

In 2006 it was the case that nearly all Cavendishes were clones.

Location: Devonshire House, 1 Mayfair Place, W1J 8AJ (orange, red)

See Also: TOWNHOUSES, DISAPPEARED Piccadilly Townhouses, Devonshire House

Of The Essence

The reason why any product that contains banana essence tastes different from contemporary bananas is because it was modelled upon the Gros Michel's flavour.

The Fruit of Peace

On 30 December 1945 the first bananas arrived in Britain since 1940. These were earmarked for people who aged under eighteen. Some children had to be taught how to remove the fruit's peel before trying to eat it.

International Relations and Bananas

The early and mid-1990s saw a banana war between the EuroBanana and the DollarBanana. The former came predominantly from Anglophone and Francophone parts of the Caribbean (legally Martinique and Guadeloupe are integral parts of France) although some were also grown in Madeira, the Canary Islands, and Crete. The latter came from Spanish-speaking Latin America. Essentially, the conflict was between American fruit companies and the British and French governments. The two states regarded themselves as being obligated not to undermine the island economies that were underpinned by banana exports.

See Also: FOREIGN RELATIONS; HIGH COMMISSIONS New Zealand House

The Museum That Was Not

Michael Balfour (1939-2011) was a writer and publisher whose interests were eclectic. His particular passion was the history and nature of the banana. He assembled a collection of banana-themed items. These, he intended to be the core of a museum that would be devoted to fruit. However, he never realised his ambition to open such an institution.

Citrus Fruits

Oranges

Nell Gwynne

Nell Gwynne (d.1687) started her working life in The Theatre Royal Drury Lane as an orange seller. She moved on to other things.

Location: Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Catherine Street, WC2B 5JF (red, purple)

See Also: POOR NELLY; WEST END THEATRES Theatre Royal Drury Lane

Kensington Palace Orangery

Kensington Palace Orangery (1704) was built for Queen Anne. It is possible that there may have been a political overtone to the choice of building type. Oranges were associated with Spain and, for most of the monarch's reign, England was involved in fighting the War of the Spanish Succession.

The palace had been closely identified with the monarch's predecessor and late brother-in-law King William III, with whom her relations had been formal at best. It is believed that the original design for the Orangery was created by Nicholas Hawksmoor but that it was reworked by Sir John Vanbrugh, whose connections to the court were more developed than those of his sometime assistant.

Location: Kensington Gardens, W8 4PX

See Also: PALACES Kensington Palace

St Clement

The Church of St Clement in Eastcheap is probably the church in the nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons say the bells of St Clement's. The church stood near the wharves where citrus fruits from the Mediterranean were unloaded.

Location: 27 Clements Lane, EC4N 7AE (purple, yellow)

See Also: THE THAMES Wharves

Scurvy Prevention

In trying to counter scurvy Britons used limes rather than lemons because the latter tended not to be grown in British colonies and were therefore more expensive.

Pineapples

In the mid-17^thC the pineapple became a symbol of hospitality, wealth, and status. Those who could not afford to eat one could rent one that could be admired and then returned to the hirer who would then sell it to someone who could afford to consume one.

In 1901 pineapples started to be canned. Ten years later a far more effective canning machine was created. This led to the fruit acquiring a far more prosaic status than it had enjoyed hitherto.

See Also: STREET FURNITURE Railings, Pineapples

1970s Cuisine

During the 1970s the pineapple was a repeated victim of socially aspirational cuisine. Instances of its mistreatment - nay maltreatment - included gammon and pineapple, and being served impaled upon a cocktail stick in intimate proximity to a cube of cheddar cheese.

Cultivation

Sir Matthew Decker owned Fitzwilliam House on Richmond Green. He commissioned Henry Telende, a fellow Dutchman, to create the garden. In 1721 the first pineapples to fruit in Britain were grown in it. They were served to King George I. The event is commemorated on a tablet outside Richmond Church.

Once pineapples became generally affordable the growing of pineapples ended. The techniques were forgotten or applied to other tender plants.

Lambeth Bridge

At both ends of Lambeth Bridge (1932) stand pairs of obelisks. Each of the quartet is topped by a large stone pineapple. The fruits commemorate the royal gardeners John Tradescent (d.1638) and his son John the younger, who are reputed to have been the people who introduced the pineapple into England. The original bridge opened in 1862.

Location: Lambeth Road, SE1 7SG (red, blue)

See Also: BRIDGES; PLANTS The Tradescants

The National Gallery

There are two peppercorn ornaments on the roof of the National Gallery. These are re-creations of the tops of the ventilation ducts that were used to clear air away from the stabling areas within the former Royal Mews. Both of the peppercorns are topped by pineapples.

Location: Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DS (red, yellow)

See Also: GALLERIES The National Gallery; HORSES Mews, The Royal Mews

Website: www.nationalgallery.org.uk

St John Smith Square

St John Smith Square (1728) was designed by Thomas Archer as one of the Fifty New Churches. The building was to have been topped by four pineapples. Without the architect being consulted, cupolas were placed upon it instead.

Location: Smith Square, SW1P 3HA (blue, brown)

Website: www.sjss.org.uk

St Paul's Cathedral

The two west towers of St Paul's Cathedral were where Sir Christopher Wren (d.1723) indulged himself in the Baroque style. Their ogees are capped by gilted copper pineapples.

Location: St Paul's Churchyard, EC4M 8AD (purple, blue)

See Also: ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL

Website: www.stpauls.co.uk

The Youthful Fruit Ogler

As a child, Charles Dickens visited Covent Garden Market to look at his first pineapple.

Location: Covent Garden Market, WC2E 8HB (blue, purple)

David Backhouse 2024