This year we celebrate 800 years of an iconic document that represents the foundation of modern democracy and justice, agreed (to a point, given some artistic licence…) by King John at Runnymede on 15th June.
As such, there will be many tributes paid to the Magna Carta throughout the year across many forms of media but probably very few dedicated to clause 35…
“There shall be standard measures of wine, ale, and corn (the London quarter), throughout the kingdom. There shall also be a standard width of dyed cloth, russet, and haberject, namely two ells within the selvedges. Weights are to be standardised similarly.”
Ok, so it refers to many items but one of them is ale and so, for the first time, quantity of ale is standardised and we have the birth of the Beautiful British Pint.