OLD chum Chris Marsden is on a hunt for the origins of mushy peas.

He has been inspired by the BBC Wordhunt Appeal which lists mushy peas alongside an array of words such as bonk, phwoar, nerd and minger.

These are all in common usage but where do they come from? Who first devised and used them?

The BBC appeal is being run in conjunction with the Oxford English Dictionary which says of mushy peas: "English regional (north), a dish or portion of marrowfat peas cooked until soft and served in their own juice."

That's all they know and they would like written evidence of the term's use before 1975.

"There's not much doubt that peas could be mushy before 1975," say the Beeb. "But why did the term spring into the public's consciousness then? Clever marketing? Or is it really much older?"

Chris says: "I need your help. Now I know the history is unclear, I'm not sure I can really enjoy another pie and peas without being more comfortable about the origin of the term."

The common garden pea has been eaten for 8,000 years. The Greeks and Romans consumed loads. And here is an interesting fact. They rarely ate them fresh.

Usually, peas were picked, dried and stored before being cooked. They could be added to stews and also made into soup, and what is pea soup but a form of mushy peas?

It is rumoured that Socrates issued his famous warning about over-indulgence one night after he put too many peas into his soup and it turned mushy.

"Thou shouldst eat to live, not live to eat," he said. "But by `eck, these mushy peas are grand."

Could it be that Archimedes formulated his principle on the displacement of water after eating a bowl too many of mushy peas and was inspired by the subsequent bubbles that rose to the surface of his bath?

"Eureka!" he shouted, as he ran into the street naked.

"Put some clothes on," yelled his neighbour. "And if you are going to continue playing the trombone, take some lessons."

When you think of it, Roman troops probably tramped (I said tramped) across the known world creating an empire on a diet of mushy peas and undoubtedly brought the recipe to the North of England.

Indeed, the answer could be at Slack near Outlane where the Roman Sixth Legion had a fort. A chef's menu of the day, with mushy peas chipped into a stone tablet, would do very nicely to authenticate the dish.

And solve Chris's mushy pea withdrawal symptoms.