Everyone, and yes I do mean everyone who remembers growing up in Britain the 1970s, has to go through the “Whatever happened to Spangles?” conversation.
As someone who remembers when a Mars Bar cost 4p, I have absolutely no problem recalling Spangles. They were a ever-so-slightly-fizzy boiled sweet, made by Mars in Slough. Which probably says it all. Because what I do have difficulty remembering is what all the fuss was about. No doubt people who are five years my senior or more will have fonder memories, but until the mid to late 70s there had been a lot less choice.
Spangles first came onto the market in 1950 and, for a previously sugar-rationed youth, probably represented a freedom that was as metaphorically sweet as it actually tasted. Truth is, by about 1975, boiled sweets were old hat and other, more exciting alternatives were cheaply and readily available. Truth is, my generation was comparatively spoilt and we turned our sophisticated noses up at the humble Spangle. And besides, by the end of the decade we had Space Dust and that was really fizzy!