Keep calm and Fanny on: the many careers of Fanny Cradock

Mention the name Fanny Cradock to anyone, young or old, and they tend to simply snigger, make an innuendo-heavy reference to doughnuts or squirm at the thought of long-forgotten meals disguised under layer-upon-layer of increasingly bizarre food-colourings and flourishes of garnish.

She is, at least, remembered. She was hard to forget.

However, there is much more to Fanny Cradock than even the most elaborately pencilled-in eyebrow might suggest. The ‘real’ story is just as weird, wonderful and wacky as the myths that persist.