Dear LPG,

I have often read the articles on your website and I have to agree that it is refreshing to find something different every day.  I especially like the stories that complement the pictures that you sometimes feature and I have a picture of my own to add.

I know that today is traditionally known as being earmarked for the taking down of all Christmas decorations, which might get you wondering why I have chosen to offer this picture to accompany my story.

In my humble estimation, I feel that it has artistic value, when you look at the subtle contrasts between the silver of the tinned foil and the charred remains of my attempts of cooking, (I wasn’t even cooking them, I was supposed to be warming them up a bit…) which is why, before binning them, I took the picture.  My excuse for the whole incident was my new electric oven where the oven setting and the toasting setting are governed by one dial, which I had in the wrong position. 

My sister made them for me and left with strict instructions that they only needed 10 minutes in a slow oven.  I promise you (and her) that I was only gone 10 minutes! I knew I had time to pop upstairs to the computer because I definitely set the timer which meant that the oven should not have burned the cakes (you note that I now blame modern technology for the whole composition of my picture).  But I am not the first and I know that I will not be the last cake-burner to grace this planet. 

Let’s face it, I am not supposed to be a good cook. I am a man and there is no middle ground, we are either excellent cooks or abysmal ones.  The picture clearly illustrates that I am the latter but did you know that, according to legend 1144 years ago today, King Alfred got distracted while he had a similar experience? 

I think that that was the only fact that I knew about this monarch before my picture inspired me to take a little look at the internet, where I found out that he was responsible for documenting the history of his time, establishing the British Navy, converting one of his Danish enemies to Christianity and keeping the Danes at bay, as well as his cake burning exploits, I felt that he deserved a little mention on your pages.

So readers, in addition to taking your Christmas decorations down today, why not spare a thought for King Alfred the Great?

 RY, Peckham.

RY shares his knowledge learned about the Great King Alfred from the pages of the internet...

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… including the right way to make an authentic King Arthur cake… perhaps?

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