I'm writing this in December and at this time of the year food looms large in our minds. Later it will be diet as we ruefully contemplate the bathroom scales and wonder why we ate so much. The combination of food and diet make me think about Sir Jack Drummond, born in 1891 and died in 1952. He trained as a scientist and spent most of his life studying food, vitamins and nutrition. So what, how come he figures in a column that focuses on the local history of Barlick?
I first came across him and his second wife when I read the book they published jointly in 1939; 'The Englishman's Food. A History of five centuries of English diet' and then found out that at the beginning of the war he was employed by the government to advise of gas contamination of food but in February 1940, was appointed Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Food. His job was to lay out how best to feed the nation when food was scarce and due to his guidance, not only was the nation fed well under rationing, but at the end of the war we were better nourished than we were in 1939. My age group has since been described as 'The last healthy generation' by nutritionists. This is why he was important to Barlick, his work ensured the health of your ancestors if you were born after the war. Also you can reflect that if he had been in charge of your Xmas food you wouldn't be worrying about what the scales are telling you.
One of the greatest and most hotly debated topics in health today is the rise of obesity, to be brutally frank, most of us are eating too much of the wrong foods. A direct result of human frailty and the fact that far from being rationed, food has never been cheaper or more plentiful. It's ironic isn't it and perhaps a good reason why we should know about Jack Drummond and his work. Obesity was not an issue in 1945!
There may be some of you who vaguely remember his name and that is almost certainly because you read about the tragedy in August 1952 when he, his wife Ann and their young daughter Elizabeth were found murdered while they were on a camping holiday in France. If you are interested in this seek out a book called 'The Vitamin Murders' by James Fergusson which gives all the details not only of the murders but of the conspiracy theories that followed.
My interest is remembering the work of a man who did so much for me and my generation in WW2. Not only did we avoid starvation but due to his influence and knowledge of vitamins and nutrition free clinics were set up for children, our health was monitored and we were given bottles of concentrated orange juice and Cod Liver Oil throughout the war. Thanks to him we lived long enough to tell you this story!
This was life or death in WW2.
