Anyone who uses Google will have noticed today's doodle is dedicated to the UK's love of tea - or more specifically to the appearance 358 years ago of the first advert for tea. It was described as "a China drink", which is the phrase Samuel Pepys used a few years later when he first tried the beverage.
Tea, when it first arrived on these shores, was incredibly expensive. Only the richest toffs could afford it, and they kept it locked away in ornate caddies. The lady of the house would keep the caddy key so that the servants couldn't get their filthy mitts on the precious leaves.
So this morning I have five tea/cup related photos for you. Why don't you brew up a cuppa, sit down, and visit
Amy at Love Made My Home to enjoy other people's fives.
This is lovely, isn't it? I can imagine sipping the cup that cheers out of it - but in Victorian society I'd have been frowned upon - it's for drinking coffee, and it's called a can, because of its straight sides. Tea was originally drunk from a bowl, Chinese fashion, and so tea cups are more bowl-shaped, even though they have handles now.
Can't brew proper tea without a pot, so how about this lovely specimen? It's in the Potteries Museum in Stoke on Trent and I would really love something this ornate to make my morning cuppa.
How about a touch of opulence for your tea? This one wouldn't have been for the China drink either. It dates from the Bronze Age and was found in a round barrow (grave mound) in Cornwall. It's in the British Museum, though technically it belongs to the royals because it was found on Duchy of Cornwall land.
Last week I showed you an extract from Blackpool's comedy carpet. Well this one's just up the coast in Morecambe, and it's in front of a statue of the town's
famous son Eric. There are lots of his catch phrases set into the floor around the sculpture, but I think this is my favourite.
Can you guess what language this is? It's so close to home, and yet a significant proportion of the natives don't even speak it. It's Welsh. Paned o te, Cariad?
