Episode details

Radio London,5 mins
London's 391 years of going bananas for bananas
Available for over a year
On 10 April 1633, a crowd gathered outside a shop in Holborn, in the city of London, to goggle at a peculiar new display. Now ubiquitous in our fruit bowls and supermarkets, and always with the potential to cause a comedy slip, this was the start of London's relationship with the banana. Since then, London has had a unique connection to the bendy fruit, but it still took a while for bananas to properly enter British culture. Most people in England still had not seen a banana by the end of the 19th Century. So how did we Londoners come to love bananas so much that they have inspired songs, art, and even wartime solace. Âé¶¹Éç Radio London's Ross Ryan has the story of London's 391 years of going bananas for bananas. (Written by Bethan Bell) (Image credit: Getty Images)
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