One of the problems with the anti-sugar message - then and now - is how depressing it is. The substance is so much part of our culture, that to be told buying children an ice cream may be tantamount to poisoning them, is most unwelcome. But Yudkin, who grew up in dire poverty in east London and went on to win a scholarship to Cambridge, was no killjoy. "He didn't ban sugar from his house, and certainly didn't deprive his grandchildren of ice cream or cake," recalls his granddaughter, Ruth, a psychotherapist. "He was hugely fun-loving and would never have wanted to be deprived of a pleasure, partly, perhaps, because he grew up in poverty and had worked so hard to escape that level of deprivation."