How Northern are you? Take the test....

[Lost Leopard Spot]

I had to dig it out... nostalgia rules. Only nostalgia's wrong because it turns out not to be at all northern or gritty or anything like I remember... nothing at all like.

[coffeymagic]

There's nowt wrong with Hovis.

Can I just double check that every time anyone sees or hears the word Hovis they go 'E were a great baker were granddad...'
I do.

Younger viewers may have to ask an adult for help.

And I NEVER said 'bacon and cheese' on a 'sandwich' I have always said toast. I don't even need to look back at my OP to know I never said b+c on bread.

Ridley Scott's got a lot to answer for...

Close. You're thinking of the classic line 'Aliens make tea bags make tea.'

It was Joe Gladwin who did the Hovis v/o.

'E were a great baker were granddad. He used to get up every mornin' at 5am and y'could smell it from streets away. All 'ot 'n brown 'n steamin'......'

[Lost Leopard Spot]

There's nowt wrong with Hovis.

Can I just double check that every time anyone sees or hears the word Hovis they go 'E were a great baker were granddad...'
I do.

Younger viewers may have to ask an adult for help.

And I NEVER said 'bacon and cheese' on a 'sandwich' I have always said toast. I don't even need to look back at my OP to know I never said b+c on bread.

Ridley Scott's got a lot to answer for...

Close. You're thinking of the classic line 'Aliens make tea bags make tea.'

It was Joe Gladwin who did the Hovis v/o.

'E were a great baker were granddad. He used to get up every mornin' at 5am and y'could smell it from streets away. All 'ot 'n brown 'n steamin'......'

Our Ridley was t'director of t'Boy on a Bike advert. Aliens bursting out of stomachs came later in his career.

[coffeymagic]

There's nowt wrong with Hovis.

Can I just double check that every time anyone sees or hears the word Hovis they go 'E were a great baker were granddad...'
I do.

Younger viewers may have to ask an adult for help.

And I NEVER said 'bacon and cheese' on a 'sandwich' I have always said toast. I don't even need to look back at my OP to know I never said b+c on bread.

Ridley Scott's got a lot to answer for...

Close. You're thinking of the classic line 'Aliens make tea bags make tea.'

It was Joe Gladwin who did the Hovis v/o.

'E were a great baker were granddad. He used to get up every mornin' at 5am and y'could smell it from streets away. All 'ot 'n brown 'n steamin'......'

Our Ridley was t'director of t'Boy on a Bike advert. Aliens bursting out of stomachs came later in his career.

I'll sit corrected on that. I thought you meant the v/o was done by Aliens3 actor and professional Yorkshireman Brian Glover.

Hmmm, never knew Ridley Scott directed that. There's another fact for the pile. Just shows you what you can learn when there's a lull in the football.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

^ tis a little known fact, apparently

[Bruce Rioja]

I hear the New World Symphony and a visualuse a very steep, cobbled street and a boy on a bike.


(Strange that the quintessential Northern cobbled street is in Wiltshire but there you go).

Me too. However, you shattered my belief that that steep cobbled street used on the ad was the one in Howarth. Shattered it you have. I hope you're happy now?!

[coffeymagic]

Is the boy in the ads well known? I don't google stuff (You know about me don't you?) but it seems like a good 'urban rumour' to get going that '...do you know the boy in the Hovis ad was....'

Noddy Holder, Terry Waite, The Edge, John Craven, Sandi Toksvig.....

[CrazyHorse]

It was Zammo off-of Grange Hill fame.

[coffeymagic]

And seeing as some spoil sport has put the actual Hovis ad up I'll have to confess that the 'all 'ot 'n brown 'n steamin'' line was from a Grumbleweeds sketch. One of their few actually funny ones.

I knew one of the Grumbleweeds.

He was the uncle of one of my mate's mates. He wasn't the little bald one (my favourite), the beardy one, the one that did the Jimmy Savile all Jimmy Saviles are based on (career over), not the one who wore the gas mask, he wasn't the one with no teeth - he was the other one.

'Mr Showbiz' we used to call him.

[coffeymagic]

It was Zammo off-of Grange Hill fame.

That's the right idea. Perhaps a bit young for a Zammo. I think he's probably about my age, a bit older? 1973 might just be a bit early for him to be out riding his bike.

How about yer Booger Bensons of this world, yer Gripper Stebsons of this world or even yers Tucker Jenkinses of this world?

They should bring Grange Hill back but now. All the same story lines, same actors the lot, acted dead straight but with the roles played by the now adults.

I used to know all the 'love interests' in GH Zammo-Jackie, Tucker-Trisha are all I can remember now.

Wannah-wah-wah!

[Prufrock]

I hear the New World Symphony and a visualuse a very steep, cobbled street and a boy on a bike.


(Strange that the quintessential Northern cobbled street is in Wiltshire but there you go).

Me too. However, you shattered my belief that that steep cobbled street used on the ad was the one in Howarth. Shattered it you have. I hope you're happy now?!

I thought it was Howarth too!

[coffeymagic]

@bruce rioja

See that picture you have for your avatar? Did you take that from a programme or from the net? If it's from a programme can I have a guess?

I think that photo appeard on the cover of either Doncaster or Darlington at home. Hmmm, probably Doncaster.

I shall say Doncaster. it was a blue programme with that phot in the middle of a 'cut out' bit like something you'd get from Pontins.

Am I right sir?

[bobo the clown]

I hear the New World Symphony and a visualise a very steep, cobbled street and a boy on a bike.

(Strange that the quintessential Northern cobbled street is in Wiltshire but there you go).

Me too. However, you shattered my belief that that steep cobbled street used on the ad was the one in Howarth. Shattered it you have. I hope you're happy now?!

Delighted my friend.

Golden Hill, Shaftsbury, Wiltshire.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

I hear the New World Symphony and a visualise a very steep, cobbled street and a boy on a bike.

(Strange that the quintessential Northern cobbled street is in Wiltshire but there you go).

Me too. However, you shattered my belief that that steep cobbled street used on the ad was the one in Howarth. Shattered it you have. I hope you're happy now?!

Delighted my friend.

Golden Hill, Shaftsbury, Wiltshire.

It's in fecking Dorset, you clown.

[bobo the clown]

I hear the New World Symphony and a visualise a very steep, cobbled street and a boy on a bike.

(Strange that the quintessential Northern cobbled street is in Wiltshire but there you go).

Me too. However, you shattered my belief that that steep cobbled street used on the ad was the one in Howarth. Shattered it you have. I hope you're happy now?!

Delighted my friend.

Golden Hill, Shaftsbury, Wiltshire.

It's in fecking Dorset, you clown.

Ooops.

Not "up North" however, which was the basis of the point.

[TANGODANCER]

How come it's all Hovis and nobody's mentioned Turog?

[bobo the clown]

How come it's all Hovis and nobody's mentioned Turog?

The Betamax of brown bread Tango.

[Bruce Rioja]

@bruce rioja

See that picture you have for your avatar? Did you take that from a programme or from the net? If it's from a programme can I have a guess?

I think that photo appeard on the cover of either Doncaster or Darlington at home. Hmmm, probably Doncaster.

I shall say Doncaster. it was a blue programme with that phot in the middle of a 'cut out' bit like something you'd get from Pontins.

Am I right sir?

You might well be, CM, but it'll require further detective work on that front, I'm afraid. What I do know is that it appeared in the BEN in August 1985 - A multiple PSG, if you will.

I happened upon it because I was reading an article about David Cross's daughter playing cricket for England, so for no reason whatsoever I checked to see if there were any images of Cross in his playing days for us on Google. That, as far as I could see, was the only one. It definitely has a look of familiarity about it and I'd be amazed if it wasn't used on the front cover of a programme though.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Is the boy in the ads well known? I don't google stuff (You know about me don't you?) but it seems like a good 'urban rumour' to get going that '...do you know the boy in the Hovis ad was....'

Noddy Holder, Terry Waite, The Edge, John Craven, Sandi Toksvig.....

I do and no.

This advertisement was repeated on British television for a 10-day run in May 2006 to commemorate the firm's 120th anniversary. The boy on the bike, Carl Barlow, then aged 13, became a firefighter in East Ham in 1979.

[thebish]

Is the boy in the ads well known? I don't google stuff (You know about me don't you?) but it seems like a good 'urban rumour' to get going that '...do you know the boy in the Hovis ad was....'

Noddy Holder, Terry Waite, The Edge, John Craven, Sandi Toksvig.....

it was me....