Looking at the fresh faced laddie on the ‘Say Aye tae a Pie’ poster, I was reminded of the Fry’s Five Boys. The other day we were enjoying a pre-dinner drink in the Cloisters Bar and I was drawn into a discussion about Fry’s chocolate – well truthfully I butted in on it. Anyway, I happened to mention the Fry’s Five Boys and none of my new found discussion companions had heard of them. Apparently it was withdrawn in 1976 so that tells you something about the sort of people I but in on these days. So I’ll explain Fry’s Five Boys.
The Fry’s Five Boys were not actually five boys but were the one boy in different states of delirium about Fry's chocolate (his name Lindsay Poulton and apparently he was the son of the photographer).
The Five Boys appeared on the chocolate wrappers, advertisements and metal signs that used to be displayed outside confectioners.
The Five Boys not only appeared on the wrapper of the milk chocolate bar but were impressed on the pieces of a bar.
There was also a bar called Fry’s Five Centres not to be confused with the Five Boys. I say Five Centres but it was a single bar much as todays Fry’s Chocolate Crème, but with five different flavoured fillings: strawberry, orange, raspberry, lemon and pineapple (none of which tasted much like the fruit with the exception of the orange). What made the bar really ‘interesting’ was the internal disposition of the flavoured fondant which was rarely aligned with the segments so you would snap off a segment that was 75% orange and 25% raspberry.
Looking back at the advertising material it struck me that the ‘Realisation’ state is spelt with a ‘z’ – presumably to address the export market. Overall, I fear the Five Boys advertising portrays a seriously creepy image of British childhood in the Fifties - perhaps that's why I talk to strangers in bars about Five Boys!
