If you ever claimed that something was the greatest thing since sliced bread, you’re referring to a very particular date – the 7th July 1928. That was the day that pre-sliced and wrapped bread was first sold by the Chillicothe Baking Company in Missouri. Their Kleen Maid Sliced Bread proved incredibly popular, and was advertised as "the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped." It was this slogan that led to the hyperbolic phrase we now use to describe an invention that has a huge impact on daily life.

The American inventor of the bread slicing ...