Plan B Forum

Britons across the country are divided over the optimum time to dunk a biscuit in a cup of tea, a new report reveals.

While those in the north of England like to plunge their biscuit into their warm beverage until it is rather soggy, those in the south of the country are more hesitant and only opt for a quick dip.

In fact, the report found that a hefty 65 per cent of northerners are the slowest dunkers in Britain, with them waiting for the biscuit to go soft – and risking it falling into the tea – before tucking in.

In the south, however, half of Brits choose to take it slow and opt for a tentative dip in their cuppa.

The findings come in a new report which reveals the nation's biscuit-eating habits, showing that while northerners prefer unassuming types such as custard creams, Londoners reach for posher brands.

The Waitrose Food and Drink report found that milk chocolate digestives are the most popular type of biscuit sold to adults in its supermarkets, while Jammie Dodgers are the favourite among children.

But its research whittled down the favourite biscuit for each region – with the findings proving an obvious north-south divide.

In Scotland, residents voted shortbread as their favourite type of biscuit, with Tunnock's Tea Cakes also proving a big hit. However, they said dunking was rude and were the least likely nation to do so.

Further south, Yorkshire folk said they preferred custard or bourbon creams, while over in the north east - where dunking was highly popular - oblong chocolate biscuit bars and ginger nuts topped the list.

Meanwhile, in Leeds, locally-made Botham's of Whitby biscuits were found to be the biggest seller – outselling every other brand.

A biscuit which had been aboard a lifeboat on the Titanic has sold at auction for £15,000.



Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said the Spillers and Bakers Pilot cracker, from a survival kit in a lifeboat, was "the world's most valuable biscuit".

It was bought by a collector in Greece.

A photograph purporting to show the iceberg that sank the ill-fated liner sold at the same auction for £21,000. The picture was taken by a steward on another ship which passed the iceberg.

Mr Aldridge said they were among the most "collectible and iconic" Titanic items to be sold.

The auction, at Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes, Wiltshire, also saw a "loving cup" presented to the captain of the Carpathia, which came to the Titanic's aid, also sell for £129,000 to a UK collector.

It was given to Captain Arthur Rostron by survivor Molly Brown, paid for by donations from wealthy passengers after the disaster.

Mr Aldridge said the price paid for the cup made it the third most valuable item associated with the Titanic story to have ever been sold.

He said: "The interest in the items reflected the worldwide nature of Titanic memorabilia. They captured collectors' imagination".

The biscuit was saved by James Fenwick, a passenger on the Carpathia which picked up Titanic survivors.

He kept it in an envelope complete with original notation, "Pilot biscuit from Titanic lifeboat April 1912".

RMS Titanic had been four days into a week-long Transatlantic crossing from Southampton to New York when the supposedly "unsinkable" ship struck the iceberg on 14 April 1912.

The ship sank less than three hours later at around 02:20 on 15 April.

The photograph was captured the day after the luxury liner sank in the Atlantic, killing more than 1,500 people.

Guinevere wrote:Haven't found them here...

oldr_n_wsr wrote:"Chocolate Digestive"???
Ex-Lax?

In 1839, digestives were first developed in the United Kingdom by two Scottish doctors to aid digestion.[2] Digestives featured in advertisements for the Berkshire-based biscuit company Huntley & Palmers in 1876, with a recipe being given in Cassell's "New Universal Cookery Book" of 1894.[6] At the time, it was asserted grain millers knew only of bran and endosperm.[7] After 10% of the whole grain's coarser outer-bran coat was removed, and because the innermost 70% of pure endosperm was reserved for other uses, brown meal, representing only 20% of the whole grain, remained, consisting of about 15% fine bran and 85% white flour.[8] By 1912 it was more widely known that brown meal included the germ, which lent a characteristic sweetness