Which one of the following well-known U.K. confectionery items was the first to be produced?

“Liquorice Allsorts” were created originally in 1899, first produced in Sheffield, England, by Geo. Bassett & Co Ltd.. Cadbury’s “Dairy Milk” chocolate was first produced in 1905, while “Aero”, an aerated chocolate bar, originally produced by Rowntree's, was introduced in 1935 to the North of England as the "new chocolate". However, predating all of these is the confectionary originally intended to be jelly bears and which later came to be known as “Jelly Babies”.

The jelly sweets were created in 1864 by an Austrian immigrant working at Fryers of Lancashire and were originally marketed under the unfortunate name of "Unclaimed Babies". Unsurprisingly, their popularity waned in England before being revived by Bassett's of Sheffield, Yorkshire, who were responsible for mass-producing "Jelly Babies" from 1918. To mark the end of World War I, Bassett rebranded them “Peace Babies”. The production of “Peace Babies” was halted by wartime shortages in World War II, but they were relaunched officially as “Jelly Babies” in 1953.

The “Jelly Babies” family have names. “Bubbles” is the yellow one, “Baby Bonny” is pink, “Boofuls” is green, “Brilliant” is red, “Bigheart” is dark purple, and “Bumper” is the orange one.

Not only have they been given names, “Jelly Babies” are something of a household name. They’ve made many TV appearances as confectionery of choice over the years. Their portfolio includes “Doctor Who”, Terry Pratchett’s “Discworld” series and “Doc Martin”.