It's one of most people's favourite days of the year, with the biggest dilemma being what topping to have - here we take a look at a few facts about pancakes and the information behind it

1 A pancake recipe appeared in an English cookbook for the first time during the 15th century. It was around the same time that the first ever recorded pancake race occurred. Happening in Olney, Buckinghamshire in 1445, it is believed to have occurred when a housewife was so engrossed in making pancakes that she lost track of time. Hearing the church bells ringing, she ran out of her house, still carrying her pan and pancake. Olney still has a yearly pancake race in honour of the tradition.

2 How good are your pancake tossing skills? The most to be be done in the shortest time was 349 in two minutes. This was done by Dean Gould at Felixstowe, Suffolk in 1995.

3 The biggest pancake to be made was produced in Manchester, weighing over three tonnes.

4 Before baking soda was invented, cooks needed to become increasingly creative to make sure the pancakes ended up fluffy and soft. This saw them use fresh snow instead.

5 It is estimated there are around 52 million eggs are used in Britain each year for Pancake Day, an astounding 22 million more than are used every other day of the year on average.

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