Did Roger Moore really invent the Magnum ice cream?
Everyone has their favourite James Bond. Some people like the suave simplicity of Sean Connery, while others prefer the gritty realism of Daniel Craig. If it’s campy nonsense you’re into, however, then chances are you like Roger Moore.
Across 12 years and a record-setting seven outings, the silliest incarnation of 007 swung from vines, went to outer space, and left audiences grinning from ear to ear, though not always intentionally.
Like every other actor in the franchise, Moore had a life outside of the secret service. He basically had a test run playing Bond when he was Simon Templar, the haloed hero of the TV series The Saint and its cinematic adaptations. He made a number of other appearances across film and TV throughout his lengthy career, most notably in the show Ivanhoe and a couple of movies in which he was actually allowed to act.
Then there’s his greatest contribution to culture, one that’s a bigger impact than every Bond movie combined. In his own words, this is the story of how the late, great Sir Roger Moore invented the Magnum ice cream.
“In the ’60s I was doing an interview for some magazine or other and I was asked, ‘If you could have one wish to meet one person and ask them a question, what would it be?’” he is quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror.
Adding, “I said I would like to meet Mr Wall and ask why they don’t have a choc ice with vanilla inside that I had as a child and put it on a stick. I didn’t know at the time but other people like Claire Bloom were being asked the same question and they wanted to meet Gandhi or Jesus. But I got a call from Mr Wall, who sent me a cake with plain chocolate on the outside and vanilla ice cream on the inside.”
If you somehow don’t know what a Magnum is, then it’s pretty much as Moore described it. It’s a vanilla ice cream encased in a layer of milk chocolate, except the version on sale now comes on a stick. It’s one of the best-known ice creams in the world, available in about a million different flavours and, as of 2018, a vegan version even exists. There’s no word on whether Moore had anything to do with that.
Let’s examine the case for and against this argument. The Magnum didn’t go on sale until 1989, at least 20 years after Moore claimed to have given them the idea. Why would Walls wait this long to put it on the market? And why wouldn’t they slap Moore’s name all over it? However, the product’s name might hold some clues to its origin. In Live and Let Die, the first ‘Bond’ film to star Moore, the superspy uses a Magnum pistol during a firefight. What’s more, ‘magnum’ is also a type of champagne bottle, one of Bond’s favourite tipples.
Sadly, we’ll probably never know the truth surrounding this dessert-based mystery. If Moore did invent the Magnum, then it would make him even more of a legend than he already is, and would certainly make up for some of his dodgier moments as Bond.
