Tom, let’s talk about Kit-e-Kat

I’ve written in the past about the use of celebrities in tv ads and admitted that we did the same thing at Cellnet, which became O2, in using Joan Collins and John Cleese in two really great ads…and Nigel Mansell and Brian Clough in some pretty wooden ones. I was also in the marketing team at BT, though well-removed from the decision-making process, when  it was agreed to use S Club 7 to front their use-the-phone-more ads.  I still shudder at the memory whilst Bob Hoskins is probably still spinning in his grave. It would have been good to walk…away from that deal.

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Haze, Luce and Vic

We’ve been looking after our youngest grandson today and he’s been an angel. Since being collected by his daddy this evening we’ve been watching three other angels employed by the BBC; Hazel Irvine presenting the last rites of the Open coverage, historian Lucy Worsley fronting a mildly interesting yet odd little programme on the Women’s Institute and Victoria Coren hosting the brilliant Just Connect.

lazy days

Well we had a great night hosting our old friends John and Dee. As well as a nice meal out we had some laughs and a few memories stirred  watching some film footage Dee had taken at a party for my 40th birthday from all of 8 years ago, ahem. Great times. We even got to bed at a reasonable hour which is a bit unusual for when we get together.

And the operator says…

In my early days working in the International Telecommunications part of the GPO (a bit that would later be hived off to become part of the new British Telecommunications) there were huge buildings in central London which delivered the international telephone operator services functions. They housed thousands of operators (mostly women and a surprisingly large number of gay men) who worked in shifts 24/7 to deal with callers’ queries and helping connect them through to overseas destinations. They were also the most militant centres of union activism in the early 70’s (the Communication Workers Union made the miners look like Sunday school teachers at times).

The No word

As you are probably fed up of reading I write for a living now and, as a rule, I get paid if my clients are pleased with the words I deliver for them. Unsurprisingly the reverse is true too, of course. So I try and get things right and ensure, as far as possible, that the client is pleased with the outcome. It’s the best way to put beans on the table I find.

We two in a bed

We’ve been travelling around a lot these last few weeks, which is very unusual for us these days. We tend to be home birds nowadays. You’ll have seen the posting on the trip to Italy but either side of that we had trips to the Mumbles in South Wales and to Wilmslow in Cheshire to share 60th and 65th birthday do’s with some of our very oldest pals from Uni and Arnside. It still feels bloody odd to be invited to parties like this and know that we’re not going to one of our parents’ events but actually are peer guests.

summertime stuff

So we’re having some lovely time back in SW London enjoying the incredible summertime in the beautiful open spaces around here with our very lovable youngest grandson. Today it was Marble Hill gardens, home to one of George III’s many mistresses, though she’s long gone of course. There’s the House Festival happening there tomorrow , which is incredibly trendy, headlined by The Pet Shop Boys and Chaka Khan (we know how to get down with the kids in the borough of Richmond you know) and we watched all the trucks and stuff moving in – the little fellah’s big into lorries and diggers – from the comfort of the fenced children’s garden. We had 3 hours of blissful grandparents/kids stuff. Our little lad was as good as gold.