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.”
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