Napoleon loved liquorice and always carried the sweet in a small tortoiseshell box
a policeman once stopped a gas explosion by using liquorice to plug a gas leak
it is the sweetest natural substance - more than 50 times as sweet a sugar - and was even found in Tutankhamun's tomb
liquorice is still used for medicinal purposes today, ranging from soothing mouth ulcers and relieving chest problems to researching cancer cures in China
the earliest mention of liquorice was found on stone tablets in Baghdad in reference to using it as a treatment for swelling and sore feet, and in third century BC ancient China believed it to give strength and prolonged life
it wasn't until 1760 that the first liquorice, as sweets, were sold in Pontefract
the once sprawling fields of liquorice in Pontefract were made famous by the poet Sir John Betjeman with his poem 'The Licorice Fields of Pontefract'
