My Cadbury's Story

It will be interesting to see if Cadbury's gets sold.

I have my own Cadbury's story so it seems an apt time to share it with you.

As readers know, my mother is Italian. Because my father taught in a university we could spend long summer holidays with my grandmother on the shores of Lake Como. We would drive to Italy stopping in France en route. Every year we would stay at the Hotel Doux Apotres in Contrexeville, an elegant spa town on edge of the Vosges forest.

The Hotel was run by a dapper Sicilian called Pippo. He had married the daughter of the establishment and had become a major figure in the town's chamber of commerce. He also spoke perfect English. When my mum asked how come his English was so good, we found out his story.

As a young boy in Sicily he had keen to learn English and somehow came under the radar of a philanthropic Mrs Cadbury who was on holiday with a friend. On finding out about him, she offered him the chance of returning to England to live with her family and learn English. He jumped at the chance. Hence his English was so good.

Fast forward at least 30 years to a recording studio in West London. There you find me and the producer Peter Rinne listening to Dik and Benedicte recording a Collins French phrase book. Dik had just read out 'Where is Hotel Contrexeville?' and stopped. So we broke for a moment and he asked me why I had mentioned Contrexeville (I used to make up the phrases). I told him how when going to Italy each year we had stopped there and I asked him why he had asked.

He said he knew the Hotel Doux Apotres and Pippo. I had only ever known Dik as Dik or Richard. It turns out his surname was Cadbury. As a young boy his mother turned up one summer with a Sicilian boy Pippo with whom Dik had had to share his room. Pippo had become one of the family.

I always feel that there are threads woven into the background of our lives. Like cobwebs they link us one to another and now and again we get a glimpse of the links.

It would be a pity if Cadbury's is sold. It was obviously founded by good strong people who cared about one another.