W is for War
Cigarettes
love war. British soldiers first took up cigarette smoking in a
big way during the Crimean War (1853-56). According to
legend, they picked up the habit from Turkish gunners, who rolled tobacco
in paper and used them to light their cannon. Between firings, they sucked
on the cigarette to keep it alight. During the First World War (1914-18), and again in World War Two (1939-1945), troops were given a ration of cigarettes.
Now nearly twice as many Britons die every year from cigarettes than died per year in World War Two (131,000 deaths compared to about 77,000).