Today would have been my Mother’s 99th birthday. And reflecting on that, the image of an ice cream topped with a chocolate flake, popped into my head. Fond of cream, she adored an ice cream! It set me wondering where the “99” came from. Could it maybe have a connection with Bingo, (with associations of holidays and coastal resorts)?
My Mother loved the seaside. So with bucket and spade I’ve done a little digging, but it seems that a “99” was so-called, due to Italian influence on our ice cream sellers. When Italy had a Monarchy, the King retained an elite guard of 99 soldiers, so anything pretty special came to be known as a “99”. The story goes that some Italians coming to the UK in the ‘50s who set up ice cream businesses decided 99 was THE name for this wonderful treat.
My Bingo theory turns out to be built on sand, anyway, as the numbers only go up to 90. I did discover, though, that the bingo call for 59 is “Brighton line”, (being the train line that could bring Londoners from the capital for a day out in that south-coast resort). I would have visited Brighton many times with my Mother – and, for sure, we enjoyed an ice cream there. So, given its association in our collective psyche with sun, sea ‘n sand, for me, a 99 could be as synonymous with “Brighton line”, as a flake is with ice cream.
This is all making my mouth water … and I’m pretty certain that this snippet might have made my Mother smile. So, whilst I can’t call “Bingo!” I can say “Buon compleanno, mamma!”
Communiqué 