Seven things you never knew about pancakes...

1. The tradition of eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday is nearly 1000 years old.
   
   
2. The first recorded pancake race was in Olney, Buckinghamshire in 1445.
   
   
3. The largest number of pancakes tossed in the shortest amount of time in the UK is 349 tosses in 2 minutes (Dean Gould at Felixstowe, Suffolk, 14 January 1995).
   
   
4. The longest race in the quickest time was held in Melbourne, Australia. Jan Stickland covered 384m in 59.5 seconds on 19 February 1985.
   
   
5. The largest pancake ever made and flipped measured 15.01m wide, 2.5cm deep and weighed 3 tonnes (Rochdale, Greater Manchester, August 1994).
   
   
6. It is customary in France to touch the handle of the frying pan and make a wish while the pancake is turned, holding a coin in one hand.
   
   
7. Maple Syrup was originally a sweet drink, discovered by the Algonquin Indians who collected sap from Canadian sugar maple trees and then boiled it to produce 1 litre of pure Maple Syrup from 40 litres of sap.