What was that?

Can’t remember the name of a book, film or TV show? Mike Hunter has all the answers

Dear Mike,
Here’s an unusual enquiry for you – when I was a kid back in the ’70s, I vividly remember that on a Friday night when my dad came home from work he would bring a special treat for myself and my little brother. This treat was a chocolate bar each – now, this bar came in a black wrapper with the name of the confection emblazoned in red and gold across the packet. As to the actual chocolate, it was a rectangular cuboid, with milk chocolate outer layer, and a soft nougat and caramel centre.

I can’t for the life of me remember the name of this sweetmeat, but I have a vague recollection that it was called after a celestial body – Jupiter, Venus, or Neptune. Something like that. Also, despite being extremely calorific, it had a rugged, sporty image.

I’d love to try one of these bars again but have been unable to track one down. I’ve tried everything, and even travelled up to London to try and research the matter in the British Library, but unfortunately I was unsuccessful (in fact I was thrown out!) Please, please help so I can taste this fond memory of my childhood once again.
David Bascombe, Hove

Dear David,
Relax, I know this confection well, in fact it’s one of my favourites, and I’m sure it will help you ‘work, rest, and play’ as much as it does me. Yes, the chocolate in question is, of course, Fry’s Turkish Delight, full of eastern promise.
Hope this has been of help, and please keep those letters flooding in, folks.
Mike X

Brighton bus names explained
The meaning behind the names emblazoned on our buses:

TIMON OF ATHENS (15B) – Shakespeare’s least popular tragic hero mentions Portslade in his dying speech.

HARRY LAUDER (5C) – This bus takes the ‘low road’ into Patcham and then takes the ‘high road’ up to Hollingdean and is consequently named after the great Scottish music hall comedian, composer, and miser.

TOM O’CONNOR (72) – An episode of the ITV daytime game show Gambit, of which O’Connor was the unexceptional host, transmitted in 1977 had, as part of the audience, a coach load of pensioners from Rottingdean.

DAVID BERKOWITZ (47) – The insane New York serial killer and arsonist who believed his neighbour’s dog was telling him to murder innocent people, was also ‘instructed’ by the same dog, according to 1991 biography Death In New York, to reward himself for his efforts by taking a well-earned break in Europe, stopping off to call in on his auntie Mabel in Eastbourne.

CARLY SIMON (68E) – Since there has never been any documentary proof that the subject of Simon’s 1972 hit ‘You’re So Vain’ was Warren Beatty, as is so often alleged, the bus company has decided to assume it was actually about amusingly-appellated former council leader Ken Bodfish.

What we used to say

An occasional series in which we struggle to remember the original, simple, once common terms that have been abandoned in favour of ghastly, overblown, crass, managerial nonsense.

WHAT WE SAY NOW:
“Mindset”

Pointless attempt to repackage an idea that everybody already had, making those who employ the phrase feel as if they are displaying some deep, cognitive-psychological insight, instead of a commonplace. “We in the government are wary of falling into a something-for-nothing mindset.”

WHAT WE USED TO SAY:
“Thinking”