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London's 391 years of going bananas for bananas

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.

成人快手 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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6 minutes

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