A History of Fat People Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tapeworm

During the 1920s, UK and US women were confronted with a new weight loss solution, which came in the form of sanitized jars of tapeworms. Advertised specifically as a dieting aid, these parasites were hailed as the way forward, with one advertisement going so far as to claim "No diet, no baths, no exercise. Fat- the enemy that is shortening your life - Banished! How? With sanitized tapeworms - jar-packed!" However what was at the time hailed to be the perfect dieting solution was eventually discovered to be extremely harmful to one's health.

Indeed those who did ingest these parasitic little critters soon began to exhibit some very unpleasant and potentially serious symptoms, including weakness, nausea, diarrhoea, fever, cysts and seizures, Needless to say, the tapeworm diet was far more likely to shorten one's life, rather than prolong it.

Answer: Lucky Strike

It was a brand of cigarettes called Lucky Strike which once had an advertising campaign that urged the individual to "reach for a Lucky" whenever they were tempted to eat. Moreover their posters and billboards more than hammered this point home, by depicting a chubby, double-chinned shadow alongside the face of the attractive male and female characters that decorated them.

The campaign also inflamed the sweet industry, and eventually led to claims that the brand was openly targeting children. Nevertheless, during the 1920s, sales of Lucky Strike increased by a whopping 200%.

However once the dangers of smoking began to be realised, (which first occurred around 1930), Lucky Strike's sales began to drop.

Answer: Lord Byron

During the first half of the nineteenth century, Lord Byron became known not just for his desire to lose weight, but also his drastic, and often dangerous ways of doing so. While at Cambridge University, he half-starved himself by living off a diet of potatoes soaked in vinegar and biscuits and soda water.

Therefore when his followers began to copy him, Byron attracted a good deal of criticism, with many doctors of the day bemoaning the effect he was having on the younger members of society.

Answer: Horace Fletcher

Horace Fletcher, aka The Great Masticator, was the American diet enthusiast responsible for developing a theory that urged dieters to chew everything until it was reduced to mere liquid. During his lifetime he gained a considerable following, so much so that these individuals were referred to as Fletcherites.

Moreover his followers included the likes of legendary Austrian writer, Franz Kafka, and popular American author, Henry James. His mastication diet eventually became known as Fletcherizing, and helped make him a millionaire, as he went on tour around the United States, promoting Fletcherizing, in addition to several of his other theories.

Answer: True

During the Middle Ages, for much of Europe, overeating was a sign of status, and the only ones who overindulged regularly were those who could afford it. The diets of the poor included simple fare, which could be sourced locally, and as a result, others turned to what historians claim was an early form of bulimia.

Indeed those who did not wish to copy the obese frames of public figures such as Thomas Aquinas and Henry VIII, relied on what was referred to at the time as Ox-Hunger. Indeed these individuals regularly vomited, in order to uphold their outward show of wealth and status, while also protecting their waistlines.

Answer: La-Mar Reducing Soap

An advertisement for the "magic" La-Mar Reducing Soap appeared in an April, 1925 edition of the "Reading Eagle" newspaper. Claiming to be "a new discovery", it promised to reduce the "superfluous flesh" on any part of the body, but without "affecting other parts".

Moreover it maintained that purchasers would be able to "simply wash" their "fat away", without having to make a change to their routines, or alter their busy lifestyles. Incredibly, the advertisement even offered a money-back guarantee, insisting "You will be surprised at the results".

Answer: No

Contrary to popular belief, obesity was actually an issue in previous centuries, and is not merely a modern phenomenon. This is supported by various archaeological discoveries, which in one instance uncovered carved figurines of humans, which sported large, swollen abdomens. Found to date back to the Stone Age, these carvings took archaeologists by surprise, as their discovery suggested that obesity had actually been around for a lot longer than anyone had previously thought.

Historians also suggested that these obese individuals may well have been revered and were also more likely to survive harsh winters, as they had plenty of meat on their bones.

Answer: Frankensteins

In 1961, Weight Watchers' co-founder, Jean Nidetch, was an overweight housewife, who struggled with food obsessions, and found it especially difficult to resist the lure of cookies. While entertaining a group of friends at her home, Jean revealed this little nugget of information to them. Soon enough, each woman was confessing to their own "Frankensteins" as Jean called them.

The group then agreed to meet at Jean's house on a weekly basis, in order to share each other's stories and support one and other. Every one of the women went on to lose weight as a result, and so the idea behind Weight Watchers was born.

Answer: English

According to Stephanie Watson's 2008 book, "The Genetics of Obesity", it was English doctor, Tobias Venner, who first used the term "obesity" to "describe people who are very overweight". Born in 1577, in Petherton, Somerset, Venner was a practicing physician, who spent a sizeable portion of his career writing about and treating the ailments of the overweight.

In his book entitled "Treatise", he wrote that in order "to make slender such bodies as are too grosse"(sic), such individuals ought to visit the English city of Bath, in order to bathe in its "healing, warm springs".

Answer: Kent

During the early seventeenth century, a man named Nicholas Wood began to earn himself a reputation as an incredible glutton. Usually referred to as "the great eater of Kent", (as he grew up in the village of Harrietsham), he became known for his "performance" at local country fairs. Using his unique talents to garner an audience for himself, Wood once devoured an enormous breakfast, which consisted of three large pies, a leg of mutton, sixty eggs and a sizeable black pudding.

Incredibly, after clearing out a local inn's larder, Wood claimed to still be hungry, and promptly polished off a duck, which until moments earlier had been quietly swimming in a pond outside the tavern. Seventeenth century poet, John Taylor, was so impressed by Wood's outrageous exploits that he wrote an account of them, once noting that "He hath eaten a whole sheep at one meal", before humorously correcting himself - "pardon me! I think he left the skin, the wool and bones".