Gold Hill - The Two Ronnies Hovis Sketch - Shaftesbury, Dorset
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SMacB
N 51° 00.316 W 002° 11.825
30U E 556333 N 5650717
In 1973 Ridley Scott directed the iconic 'Boy with the bike' Hovis advert on Gold Hill, Shaftesbury. In 1978 The Two Ronnies (Ronnie Barker) filmed a parody of the ad at the same location.
Waymark Code: WMWQ6T
Location: South West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/01/2017
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In 1973 Ridley Scott directed the iconic 'Boy with the bike' Hovis advert on Gold Hill, Shaftesbury. In 1978 The Two Ronnies (Ronnie Barker) filmed a parody of the ad at the same location. The episode aired 1 January 1979.
Episode synopsis -
'Sketches include some subterfuge at a party, there is a message by Thingummy for people with bad memories, we have another episode of "Sid and Lily, George and Edie",
we see how far you have to go for a loaf of bread, Ronnie's story is designed to put you to sleep, and the final musical item is by Mario and Romano, and comes from the seaside. The musical number was performed by The Manhattan Transfer.'
Many people (myself included) believed this location to be a
lot further north. Maybe it was the northern accent they used that gave that impression. It was certainly not a Dorset accent...
"Gold Hill is a steep cobbled street in the town of Shaftesbury in the English county of Dorset. It is famous for its picturesque appearance; the view looking down from the top of the street has been described as "one of the most romantic sights in England." The image of this view appears on the covers of many books about Dorset and rural England, as well as on countless chocolate boxes and calendars.
Gold Hill has also been used as a setting for film and television. It appears in the 1967 film version of Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd.
The street is the main setting for the 1973 "Boy on Bike" television advertisement for Hovis bread, which has been voted Britain's favourite advertisement of all time. It was directed by Ridley Scott, and includes the distinctive main theme of Antonín Dvorák's Symphony No. 9. For this reason, the hill is still known to many people as "Hovis Hill". Gold Hill also featured in a recent advert for supermarket Morrisons. The tops of some of the houses along Gold Hill are on the cover of J.K. Rowling's book "The Casual Vacancy"."
SOURCE - (
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Original 1973 Hovis ad (youtube) - (
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Two Ronnies sketch (youtube) - (
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