"Onion Johnny"

Category

Library Item

Item no

34604

Title

"Onion Johnny"

Artist / maker

Unknown

Date

1920

Size

8.2 x 8.2 cm

Type

Lantern slide

Onion Johnnies are Breton farmers and agricultural labourers who travel on bicycles selling distinctive pink onions door to door in Great Britain.

They have adapted this nickname for themselves in Breton as ar Johniged or ar Johnniged.

Declining since the 1950s to only a few, the Onion Johnny was once very common. With renewed interest since the late 1990s by farmers and the public in small-scale agriculture, their numbers have recently made a small recovery. Dressed in striped shirt and beret, riding a bicycle hung with onions, the Onion Johnny became the stereotypical image of the Frenchman and was possibly in many cases the only contact that ordinary British people had with France and French people.

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Related subjects

Clothing and dress > Accessories > Caps

Clothing and dress > Garments > Jacket

Clothing and dress > Garments > Trousers

People > Adults > Men

People > Commercial activities > Street traders

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Plants > Vegetables

Plants > Vegetables > Onions

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