You'll struggle to find a 99 for 99p these days - but the cone, ice cream and flake combination's name actually has nothing to do with the price it is - or was - sold for. There are all sort of theories as to how the 99 ice cream got its name, although the general consensus is that Italian parlours in Britain were the first to call their cones 99s, in the inter-war period.
And Cadbury - who make thousands of the flakes that top off a 99 - reckons the treat could have been invented in County Durham. They were invented too long ago for the 99 name to mean anything to do with 99p, the price they were commonly sold for in the 1990s, but is very difficult to find now.
The treat is still a popular favourite from the ice cream van with thousands - perhaps even millions - being sold every year. We have taken a look at the ever-popular ice cream and its history.
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Why are 99 ice creams called 99s if they don't cost 99p?
In the interwar period of the 20th Century, Italian immigrants in Britain opened ice cream parlours across the country, including the North East. Examples include Notarianni, which opened in Sunderland in the 1930s and Mincellas, which started as a pitch in Boldon Colliery and is still a thriving business today in Ocean Road, South Shields.
The ice creams topped with flakes were named 99s in honour of Italy, as in the days of the Italian monarchy the king had a specially chosen guard of 99 men. The number then became a synonym for special or first class, Cadbury claims.
According to Cadbury's, the 99 was invented in the late 1920s, which indicates the price has nothing to do with the name, as in the late 1920s, 99p would be worth the equivalent of about £66 in today's money. Only after decimalisation did the price of a 99 ice cream become similar to its name. Now, of course, they often cost £2 or more.
Was the 99 ice cream invented in County Durham?
While Cadbury admits the invention of the 99 ice cream "has been lost in the mists of time", it does have evidence that County Durham-based Italians could be the creators of the 99.
On its website, Cadbury states : "At a recent Sales conference Mr Berry, a sales manager, told a story of how Flake became associated with ice cream and how "99" Flake came by its name. 'When I first came north in 1928 I found that some of the Italian soft ice cream makers in County Durham were trying ways of introducing other lines to increase their sales, which in those days were largely in the form of sandwich wafers. The possibilities were obvious if we could get a suitable line, both in shape and size and texture - and the most promising was Flake, which at that time only sold as a 2d line, and therefore had to be cut with a knife to reduce its size'."
Eventually, those wafer ice cream sandwiches with Flakes morphed into the sugar cones we eat today. Small Cadbury Flakes were marketed for ice cream cones by the 1930s, according to the Guardian.
There are other theories too about how the 99 got its name
There are other theories too about how the 99 got its name. As Cadbury itself admits, it does not fully know how the 99 came to be and the Oxford English Dictionary has questioned Cadbury's lines.
One origin story suggests 99s came from Scotland, home to many Italian ice cream families. One says the treat was invented in Portobello, and named after the number of the shop.
To this day, the Acari family of Edinburgh claim to be the true inventors of the 99, Edinburgh Live reports. Another suggestion is that the initials of ice cream - IC - translate as 99 in Roman numbers.
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