Identify the UK chocolate biscuits Quiz

Answer: Bandit

Bandits were a staple of the 60s, and one which also appeared to remain identical from the beginning to its quiet demise some decades after. Although the brand itself is no more you can often find very similar equivalents, even down to the packaging, in some supermarket own brands. The old advert went "You can stand it with a Bandit".

Answer: Boasters

Boasters have widened their range as many do, but the best known and earliest variety was the chocolate chip with whole hazelnuts. They are also the closest chocolate chip biscuits I know to compare with home made (as discovered by my American neighbours). Maryland Cookies now have a hazelnut version but it is not the regular version unlike Boasters. Garibaldis aren't round so hope that didn't catch anyone!

Answer: Club Plain

Unfortunately (in my opinion at least) Club biscuits underwent a total change when Jacob's were taken over by the French company Danone, and the familiar versions were virtually all changed for others, for example the Finger Cream being replaced by digestive filling in the plain version. Of course the only way to have discovered this originally was to eat the chocolate off first.

Other original Club versions were Golf (milk chocolate), Orange, the newer Mint, and Raisin, all on the same format besides the raisin which have a digestive centre mixed with dried fruit.

Answer: Chocolate Garibaldi

I was never keen on Garibaldi biscuits, mainly as I don't like currants, but was totally changed when they put a plain chocolate covering on it. I haven't seen it for many years and the word on the street (http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com) says it was probably because the London firm Chiltonian closed who were the people who made them. Garibaldis are made as a slab and then broken into biscuit size along the perforated lines. Garibaldis were named after the military leader who created them as an easy form of food to be carried by the troops. Raisin Club has them mixed with a digestive filling rather than sandwiched between it.

Answer: Penguin

The name Penguin was chosen simply due to its friendly image. I was always disappointed as a child when I opened a pack of them only to find every one was the same, milk chocolate over chocolate flavoured biscuits and chocolate cream filling, despite the differently coloured wrappers, and sure I was not the only one. Going on memory I am not aware of these changing at all since the 60s (and probably not before if anyone reading this remembers).

They were invented and originally made by William MacDonald, and came in red, green and blue wrappers that I remember, and maybe even more.

Answer: Sports

Breakaway are similar to Sports although they have sharp corners on top as opposed to the curved top of Sports. The chocolate also seemed harder and thicker on Sports, which were a favourite in my school tuck shop and rarely seen by me elsewhere. The sport theme was echoed in the picture of a football on the wrapper. Blue Riband were also a standard of the 60s but had wafer inside rather than biscuit.

Answer: Breakaway

Eric Idle must have been delighted both personally and financially when his famous sketch was adopted to promote the new biscuit in the 70s. The main reason was the pun on 'Suggestive digestive'. They are still going strong in 2011 but like so many others have been reduced in size.

Answer: Chocolate Oliver

These have always been one of my favourite biscuits, and remind me of the occasional lucky accident when the Club or Kit Kat forgot to put the biscuit in and came out as solid chocolate. Again these are now smaller in 2011 than they were originally. I haven't measured them (believe it or not!), but the diameter is noticeably smaller.

Answer: Wagon Wheel

These were a regular item in my nursery school morning break, and although have changed slightly over the years in fairly subtle ways are still going strong. They were invented by Garry Weston and have been in production since 1948. Like many the company making them has changed hands over the years, and the sizes also vary depending on the country, with the largest being in Australia.

Answer: Gypsy Cream

Long before Oreos reached the UK the Gipsy Cream was a circular sandwich of chocolate flavour digestives, but with the chocolate cream filling like the Bourbon rather than the vanilla of the Oreo. These have stopped being made for some time now but many similar types can be found if required.