Those who have bought a breakfast sandwich from a greasy spoon cafe will have no doubt been asked whether they want lashings of red or brown sauce to go with it. And if you usually opt for the brown option, you'll most likely be familiar with the HP brand.
The range of sauce itself is most popular across Great Britain, and was initially launched back in 1895 - but have you ever wondered what 'HP' stands for?
Upon a first glance, it may appear that HP is the initials of the person who created the brand - but that would be Frederick Gibson Garton, which doesn't match up. The Mirror also reports that one could assume that it's got something to do with Heinz - who have owned the product since 2005 - but that's also incorrect.
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The fact of the matter is that HP sauce is actually coined after the Houses of Parliament - with the new revelation for some blowing the minds of people online who have never previously understood this. According to the Museum of Brands , Frederick Gibson Garton - who was a grocer from Nottingham - registered the name HP Sauce in 1895 after hearing that a restaurant in the Houses of Parliament had begun serving it.
Furthermore, if you've ever looked carefully at a bottle of the brown sauce, you'll have noticed that there's in fact a photo of the Houses of Parliament on the label itself. Although this might seem completely obvious once you've connected the illustration to the initials, many people online were at a loss until it was discussed in a Reddit post uploaded to the Casual UK forum.
One person took to the forum itself to ask: "Who knew that 'HP' from HP sauce stood for Houses of Parliament? I mean it does have it on the front." Commenters were in-turn bamboozled by the news, with many of whom admitting that they had no idea what it stood for before coming across the post.
One person wrote: "What? Does it really mean that?" while another, said: "I never knew that!"
A third added: "I didn't know that. It seems obvious now, but also incredibly weird as a brand name."
Others, however, were less impressed by the fun fact, as some said they had been aware of the sauce's real name for years. One posted: "It's one of those things that I knew, then forgot. You just reminded me again."
Another, sarcastically quipped: "The word 'Sauce' on the front also means that there is sauce in the bottle. Madness."
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