Ten things you didn't know about Bovril

1 Johnston was a canny promoter and he organised a stunt for a launch of Bovril at the 1887 Colonial and Continental Exhibition in London by recreating a Montreal Ice Palace in frosted glass to encourage sales of Bovril from the chilly location.

2 The first Bovril adverts appeared two years later, with one employee going on to set up his own advertising agency. The beef drink was his first client.

3 One famous advert showed a picture of the Pope drinking a hot mug of Bovril beneath the slogan, "The Two Infallible Powers – The Pope and Bovril".

4 Bovril was being sold in more than 3,000 British pubs, grocers and chemists by 1888.

5 Bovril was available in South Africa and South America by the turn of the century.

6 Bovril was advertised as a potential aid to slimming in the 1980s via a campaign fronted by model Jerry Hall, using the slogan "Are you a Bovril body?"

7 Other celebrities to promote it included tennis star Chris Evert.

8 Bovril's instant beef stock was launched in 1966. Its "King of Beef" instant flavours for stews, casseroles and gravy came along in 1971.

9 Unilever, the company that now produces Bovril, sparked anger six years ago by changing its composition from beef to yeast.

10 After prolonged criticism that the product had lost its taste, Unilever relented and reintroduced beef extract.