It’s NOT in the Pudding!

Tony, who hears us on KQED, writes…

“Episode 1209, spotlight round asked about the origin of ‘proof.’ Dick Francis wrote a novel with exactly that title. He alleged that a liquid with 50 percent alcohol would burn with a blue flame. Back in the dark ages, when the king was collecting taxes on alcoholic beverages, a sample would be ignited. If the flame was blue, the liquid was 50 percent alcohol, 100 percent proved.

I must add that the book is a novel, therefore fiction by definition. But I love the story.”