You can thank John Montague for making the Friday after Thanksgiving into a lovely feast of leftovers.
Montague, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, invented the sandwich.
He was born 300 years ago, Nov 3, 1718 in London where he served as England's first lord of the admiralty, secretary of state and postmaster general. He was an important fellow and not just because he knew how to handle leftovers. Captain James Cook actually named the Sandwich Islands after him in 1778.
But the proper invention of the sandwich is said to have more to do with the Earl's vices than virtues.
Montague was a gambler and he regularly engaged in marathon sessions of cards and dice. Not wishing to leave the tables, Montague ordered servants to bring him a meat between two slices of bread. His gambler pals just ordered the 'same as Sandwich." Hence, the favorite world-wide lunch was born.
By the way, the Earl's biographer disputes this notion, saying Montague was more likely to have invented the sandwich at his desk during marathon bouts of work.
