Minty, did you know that The 99 was invented at 99 Portobello High Street? There are many variations of that invention but that's the one I'e I've always believed. There was an ice cream shop there and the owner had some broken cadbury flakes and put them onto the top of a cone and it became known locally as a 99, a speciality of the house. It caught on and circulated around the country and now cadbury make "99 flakes". As I say, it's just one of the many stories re 99s but I'm going with it.