The Wimpy chain originally began in 1934 in Chicago. The name was inspired by the character of J. Wellington Wimpy from the Popeye cartoons created by E. C. Segar.
And in 1954 the company sold a license to J. Lyons & Co - owners of the Lyons Corner House - to use the Wimpy name in the United Kingdom.
For twenty years Wimpy was the dominant hamburger chain in the Britain. McDonald's would not enter the UK market until 1974, followed two years later by Burger King.
Wimpy built on the Lyons Corner House business model of fast table service for people wanting a quick meal: no cutlery, pre-packaged condiments and a wipe-clean table.
Sounds a bit like Nandos...
The Wimpy Bar was a well known feature of many towns and cities in Britain and Ireland throughout the 70s and 80s. In July 1977, the business was acquired by United Biscuits.
Under this new management Wimpy began to phase out table service and adopted the more traditional counter service of rivals McDonald's.
Wimpy's UK mascot was Mr Wimpy, an orange figure dressed as an oversized Beefeater. He was famous enough to feature in his own video game.
And no children's party was complete without a Mr Wimpy surprise: normally a badge and a comic rather than a personal appearance alas.
Wimpy did have some bizarre ideas though. In the early 1970s it stopped unaccompanied women coming in on their own after midnight as they might be prostitutes. In protest the Wembly Women's Lib group stormed the Golders Green branch after midnight demanding to be served!
In 1989 Wimpy was sold to Grand Metropolitan, who began converting many of them into more profitable Burger King outlets.
But 170 Wimpys still exist in the UK, owned by South African company Famous Brands.
In its heyday the Wimpy Bar was the place to go. Even Phil Lynott hung out there!
Perhaps in retrospect Wimpys wasn't the true taste of America was yearning for. But we loved it regardless, because it was there and it was ours.
Wimpy was the home of the Shanty Salad, the Big Bender and the lethal Brown Derby dessert. For many people it was a childhood right of passage and one of the few exciting places on the High Street.
Its glory days may be behind it, but Wimpy - Twitter sales you!
(Other restaurants are available...)
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Given the current heatwave, I feel obliged to ask my favourite question: is it time to bring back the leisure suit?
Let's find out...
Now we all know what a man's lounge suit is, but if we're honest it can be a bit... stuffy. Formal. Businesslike. Not what you'd wear 'in da club' as the young folks say.
So for many years tailors have been experimenting with less formal, but still upmarket gents attire. The sort of garb you could wear for both a high level business meeting AND for listening to the Moody Blues in an espresso bar. Something versatile.
Today in pulp I look back at the publishing phenomenon of gamebooks: novels in which YOU are the hero!
A pencil and dice may be required for this thread...
Gamebooks are a simple but addictive concept: you control the narrative. At the end of each section of the story you are offered a choice of outcomes, and based on that you turn to the page indicated to see what happens next.
Gamebook plots are in fact complicated decision tree maps: one or more branches end in success, but many more end in failure! It's down to you to decide which path to tread.
He was the terror of London; a demonic figure with glowing eyes and fiery breath who could leap ten feet high. The penny dreadfuls of the time wrote up his exploits in lurid terms. But who was he really?
Today I look at one of the earliest pulp legends: Spring-Heeled Jack!
London has always attracted ghosts, and in the 19th Century they increasingly left their haunted houses and graveyards and began to wader the capital's streets.
But one apparition caught the Victorian public attention more than most...
In October 1837 a 'leaping character' with a look of the Devil began to prey on Londoners. Often he would leap high into the air and land in front of a carriage, causing it to crash. It would then flee with a high-pitched laugh.