ZOOM BACK INTO THE PAST - IT'S FAB...

Originally by LYONS MAID, then NESTLE

I've only just learned that supermarket MORRISON'S were selling ZOOM ice lollies during May of this year, apparently not being available for 20 years prior to that.  I remember buying a box of Zooms in my local SAFEWAY or SAINSBURY'S (it was the former before becoming the latter), but I can't remember precisely what year it was.  I'm amazed if it really was 20 years ago.  Sainsbury's currently sell (and have for a while) a rocket ice lolly which, as far as I recall, is the double of a Zoom, so I must pick up a pack of them the next time I'm in.

Zoom first went on sale in 1963, as a sort of tie-in to FIREBALL XL5, and STEVE ZODIAC actually advertised it on TV for a while.  Likewise, FAB ice lollies were first launched in 1967 on the back of THUNDERBIRDS, in particular LADY PENELOPE, because it was originally aimed at girls, in the same way that Zoom was meant for boys - though I doubt that distinction was ever observed by kids themselves.  Fab is still available, and back when the live-action Thunderbirds movie was due for release, the association was renewed for a promotion or competition of some sort.

I'll have to keep an eye on Morrison's, because a few months back, they also revived MARATHON bars for a while, and I managed to get a pack of them.  'Twas good to eat one (four in fact, but not all at once) again, despite them tasting exactly the same as their SNICKERS counterpart.  If I have one complaint, it was that the Snickers name also appeared on the wrapper, even it was in reduced form.

Who knows, now that we're leaving the EU, maybe the original names of sweets as we of a certain age knew them will reappear, and we'll again see TREETS, OPAL FRUITS, and all sorts of other items of vanished, once popular confectionery that we were familiar with as kids.  Anyone for SPANGLES, JUNGLIE'S JELLIES, AZTEC, AMAZIN' RAISIN, BAR SIX, OLD JAMAICA, SKY RAY, FRY'S FIVE CENTRES, and whatever else I've momentarily forgotten.

Can you think of any others?  Let's hear them.   

Posted in: Cartoons