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There is historical evidence of frozen desserts and ice-y drinks from across the globe including Ancient Greece, Rome and Tang Dynasty China. However, the first confirmed instance of ice cream in England was at King Charles II’s Feast of St George at Windsor in May 1671. This regal sweet treat was served exclusively at the king’s table, accompanied by a gallon of red and two gallons of white strawberries. Fancy!

2. Ice cream was a big hit with the bigwigs before becoming widely available

Ice cream was hugely popular with the European elite who chowed down on their tasty treats at fancy French cafés such as the famous Café Procope, which hosted ice cream lovers including Napoleon, Victor Hugo, Benjamin Franklin and Voltaire. Voltaire enjoyed his iced delights so much he’s quoted as saying “Ice cream is exquisite. What a pity it isn’t illegal.” Delicious!

Filippo Baldini produced the first book dedicated solely to the art of making frozen desserts, and claimed that some of his recipes had medicinal properties. Baldini recommended cinnamon ice cream for the relief of aches and pains, lemon for upset tummies and chocolate to improve mood. Get me a prescription!

In 1768 a Frenchman known as Monsieur Emy published a compilation of ice cream recipes with flavours including artichoke, avocado, anise, violet, asparagus, grated cheese and even whale vomit! It might be best to stick with mint choc chip…

Agnes Marshall demonstrating in her cookery school kitchen

5. Ice cream innovator Agnes Marshall was a 19th-century celebrity chef

Known as the Queen of Ices, Agnes Marshall opened a school in 1883 where she taught cookery and ice cream making. A true entrepreneur, by 1885 she patented her own mechanical ice cream maker, sold accompanying ingredients and ice cream moulds, and suggested using liquid nitrogen to make ice cream a century before it became a popular ice cream-making method. Eat your heart out, Heston!

6. Penny licks weren’t as cheerful as they sound

In the 19th century, Italian immigrants who were often forced to live and work in awful conditions sold very cheap street ice cream. A penny lick would get you a small scoop of ice cream in a glass bowl that you’d lick out and hand back to the vendor who would give it a quick wipe before passing it on to the next customer. Scientists examined samples of the water used to wipe penny lick glasses and described it as an “evil smelling, thickish, slimy liquid full of bacteria” and found traces of human and animal hair, bed straw, fleas and other insects. Not so tasty.

By the 19th century, ice cream was very popular in the UK and the US, but pasteurising milk was not! This meant that the milk used to make ice cream often contained bacteria which led to frequent outbreaks of scarlet fever, diphtheria and bovine tuberculosis. Yikes.

As sausage sales dwindled, Thomas Walls launched an ice cream delivery service in London which consisted of a fleet of 10 ice cream tricycles. It was so popular that by 1939 Walls had 8,500 tricycles and 160 depots across Britain. Despite his success, Walls missed a trick by not selling sausage-flavoured ice cream – it would have made a delicious triple scoop Sundae with grated cheese and whale vomit.