King Alfred didn’t burn the cakes:

One of the best known stories about Alfred describes the foolish king burning the cakes. The story goes that when his fortunes were at an all-time low, Alfred sought refuge in a swineherd's hut. The swineherd's wife asked him to watch the cakes which were in the oven. Alfred, worried about getting caught, forgot the cakes, and they got burned. The oven was a mess too.

The earliest written version of the story dates back to the late 10th century Life of St Neot. The first edition of Asser's Life of King Alfred, published by Mathew Parker in 1574, wrongly included the cake story. This mistake was carried over in subsequent editions right up to the early 20th century. Sorry, it wasn’t true. Nor is there a Santa Claus, nor pixies at the bottom of the garden.

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