The creators of Wallace & Gromit, the British stop-motion clay animation series of short films, made Wensleydale the favorite cheese of the endearing character Wallace simply because it made his mouth look big and toothy when he pronounced the name. They were unaware that the factory making this crumbly British cheese was about to go out of business. Happily, the film’s popularity brought the factory back from the brink: upon release of the 2005 full-length Wallace & Gromit film, Curse of the Were-Rabbit, sales of Wensleydale cheeses jumped 23 percent. The cheese is now widely available.