Traditionally the 1st October was the date on which the English pudding season started. This day is not to be confused with “Stir-Up Sunday”, the traditional day to stir-up your Christmas puddings.

The traditional English puddings were savoury rather than sweet puddings. They were filled with steak, leaks, mushrooms, spices and some were cooked for as long as sixteen hours!

Why is October the Start of the Pudding Season?

End of September in the Northern hemisphere is harvest time. It is thought that in earlier times this was followed by animals, not needed for breeding, being slaughtered and their meat preserved. To keep extra animals during the cold winter months would have cost a lot of money to families as the animals need to be fed.

Where does the word 'pudding' originate from?

The word pudding is believed to come from the French 'boudin', originally from the Latin botellus, meaning "small sausage".

Also on this day......

1 October: Harvest Home (Harvest meal)

Harvest Home was the taditional way of ending the harvest. The last load of corn was brought in with the harvester singing a Harvest Home song, then the farmer entertained everyone to a harvest feast.

1 October: National Day of the People's Republic of China

1 October : The first compact disc player, jointly developed by Sony, Philips and Polygram, went on sale. It cost $625 (more than $1,000 dollars in todays money)

1 October 1843: The first ever Harvest Festival was held on 1 October 1843 by Rev. Robert Hawker in his Anglican church at Morwenstow in Cornwall. He wanted people to say 'thank-you' to God for the harvest.

1 October 1870: The first official issue of the postcard was made in Britain by the Post Office together with the introduction of the halfpenny postage stamp.

1 October 1908: The first Model T Ford was introduced by Henry Ford.

1 October 1971: Disney World opened

1 October 1974: American fast-food chain, McDonald's, opened its first British outlet in London.

1 October 2000: Last commercial Hover Craft flight across the English Channel.