UK Commercial Break #2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Whiskas

Answer: Gold Blend

This series of adverts paid tribute to the power of advertising. 'Gold Blend' sales leapt by an extra two million cups daily to ten million a day when the TV advertisements were first screened. The commercials also had a unique place in British popular culture.

When Tony Head told Sharon Maughan 'I love you' in the original campaign, 30 million people watched and 'the Sun' splashed the photo on its front page. A novel based on the ads and a branded CD of love songs became best-sellers. The first commercial was aired in the UK in 1987, ran for twelve episodes and over five years.

It's soap opera character, an increasingly popular genre on television, ensured its success. In the novel, the characters's names are Matthew Prescott and Alexandra Maitland, he's a modern art dealer and she's a features editor for a London glossy monthly magazine.

In the U.S, the same characters advertised 'Taster's Choice' (thirteen episodes), and ran from 1990 to 1997. Anthony Head largely neutralized his British accent for the American commercials.

The American public got to choose the outcome of the final episode in an apparently huge national campaign. Anthony Head currently plays 'Rupert Giles' or 'Ripper' in the television series 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. Incidentally, Anthony Head has an older brother, Murray Head, who is better known for his hit: 'One Night in Bangkok'. Murray Head has also worked with Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Answer: Audi

Yes, jawohl, they used a slogan *in German* in Britain. It means 'Progress through technology'.

Answer: Campari

Lorraine Chase states that she carried the legacy of being considered not very intelligent after these adverts aired. This is due to a point in the dialogue when a sleazy man asks her: 'Were you truly wafted here from paradise?' and she tartly answers in a cockney accent: 'No, Luton Airport'. Lorraine had meant to convey herself as a woman who knew how to handle herself with sleazy men, but unfortunately this attempt backfired! Lorraine was never involved in the conception, creation, production or promotion of the song: 'Luton Airport' by 'The Cats' (released in 1979).

It reached the highest point in the UK charts (number 22) in October. Lorraine was asked continuously to sign copies of the single by her fans, despite her lack of involvement with it.

She states that she would have been interested had she been approached.

Answer: Milk

The original concept was to actually show the public a furry monster, however Humphrey was made invisible at the last minute and viewers saw merely a straw in a glass and the milk being stolen from Frank Muir. Humphries were described as:' shy, elusive characters' that would drink other people's milk at any expense. 'Unigate' promoted this campaign in 1975. Later, milk adverts would claim that milk had: 'A lotta bottle' and that life would be complete if we drank: 'Nice cold, ice cold milk'.

Answer: Heineken

Answer: Smash

John Webster created this commercial. David Bill was the set designer and Bob Brooks directed the commercials in the 1970s. They ran for about ten years. It took three puppeteers to operate each Martian. Puppeteers who were sitting on a platform under the set operated the levers.

The Martian voices and laughs were created by accident when the puppeteers were messing about with the puppets in between takes. Cliff Adams, a famous composer, created the four chords that are used with the above tagline.

He actually took seconds to make it and originally used the chords to get a feel for what the creator and director required. They liked those chords as soon as they heard them and the rest is history...!

Answer: Yellow Pages

The "Yellow Pages" was a British telephone directory, listing the numbers of businesses and other commercial organisations. It had (as the name suggests) a bright yellow cover and pale yellow pages.

Norman Lumsden played J R Hartley for the adverts over a period of eight years. Lumsden had been an opera singer prior to his acting career, and created roles in several of Benjamin Britten's operas. He envisaged the plot of this commercial to be that J R Hartley had lent his master copy of this book to a friend but it had never been returned to him. This commercial was first aired in 1983.

As a result of these adverts, the author Michael Russell was commissioned to write an actual book entitled "Fly Fishing by J R Hartley", which became a best seller. Norman Lumsden (who died in 2001 at the age of 95) later said that he liked that these adverts provided a quiet pause in between the more often fast and punchy commercials of the time.

Answer: Renault Clio

Estelle Skornik, who starred as 'Nicole' didn't actually know how to drive when she shot the first commercial. Nearly 23 million people tuned in to watch the advert when Nicole got married. In this particular commercial, Nicole jilted Vic Reeves at the altar for Bob Mortimer.

These commercials were a play on the love-hate relationship between the French and the British and the British stereotypes of the French, thus they were exclusively aired in the UK.

Answer: Maureen Lipman

She played the Jewish mother for many years in these BT adverts in the 1980s and 1990s. This role earned her best actress prize at the first British Academy of Film and Television Arts Advertising Awards in 1992.

Answer: Coca Cola

Linda Neary was the name of the girl who sang the opening lines of this song in the commercial. She says that she was discovered whilst she was sitting in a cafe in Italy, where she was working as a live-in nanny. She was approached and agreed to take part in the commercial to earn a bit of extra cash to go travelling.

She had to go to a hotel the following week to learn the song. The next day, she was taken to 'The Pony Club' where she and three others were filmed singing their lines whilst standing on boxes.

She never met any of the other multitudes of teenagers that starred in it and didn't know it was going to have a multinational theme. It was one of the first adverts to be shown worldwide in 1971. South Africa allegedly requested a version without any black people in it, but Coca-Cola refused this!

Answer: work rest play

Answer: PG Tips

The 'PG Tips' adverts are the longest running campaign on British television. Berny Stringle was instrumental in shaping the use of the chimpanzees in the adverts. 'Brooke Bond' had been using chimpanzees since 1956 in its 'PG Tips' commercials. The very first commercial used a country house as it's setting and showed an immaculately dressed 'boy' and 'girl' sitting at a Regency table, drinking tea from a silver service in dainty china cups. Peter Sellers provided the voiceover for the commercials. Stringle bumped into the Agency Producer for the 'Brooke Bond' commercials on a plane.

At the time, Stringle was apparently employed as a tea boy on various commercial sets. If the truth be known, the distraught Agency Producer spilt a glass of red wine over Berny Stringle's wife. Berny states that he got to talking to the Agency Producer, who was grappling with a change in direction with these commercials, but wasn't sure where to go with them. Stringle came up with the idea about the chimps trying to move a piano down the stairs in a house (this was one of the 'PG' adverts).

He got the idea from a 'Laurel and Hardy' film. He shared his idea about this with the Producer and was subsequently invited to direct it. David Bill designed the sets and states that he had to make the doors wider and shorter on the set to accommodate the chimpanzee build. This particular commercial is the one that has been aired the most times on television: over a thousand times.

Answer: Irn Bru

Irn Bru is made by the company 'A G Barr Ltd', which also happens to do a great line in 'Red Kola', 'Tizer' and 'Cream Soda' - yummy yummy. It has been making fizzy drinks since 1880. In 1901, they launched a drink called 'Iron Brew'. During the Second World War, it disappeared from the shelves, as the Government did not recognise it as a 'standard drink'.

In the Post War period, the Government introduced rules and regulations 'Iron Brew' had to change its name, as it did not meet the criteria (since it was not actually brewed).

The phonetic spelling of 'Iron Brew' was chosen and in 1946, this product began to grace the shelves of shops all over Scotland. Robert Barr was the original Chairman, but in 1959, his brother's company 'A G Barr Ltd' bought it over and in 1965 it became a Public company. Recently 'A G Barr' opened a manufacturing plant in Russia, where it appears to be really popular.

Answer: Milky Bar

'The milky bars are on me'. Michael Mayne was the 1960s Milky Bar kid, John Cornelius in the 1970s and Simon Desborough in the 1990s. The 'Milky Bar kid' was apparently one of the first advertisements to have a child as it's main star that wore National Health glasses and was still cool. John Cornelius didn't actually like white chocolate and states that in between takes he had a bucket into which he could spit it out! He also did a commercial for 'Lucozade'.

At 15 years old, he developed an alcohol addiction, from which he has now recovered.

He is currently married and his wife is expecting their first child. He is a builder and has a dog called 'Cadbury' (wonder what 'Nestle' thinks of that!). Simon Desborough's commercials were shot in Spain.

He states that he had to sit astride a stunt pony, who only understood Spanish commands and would sit down, roll over or play dead every time he tried to get the Pony to move.