J. R. Hartley is a fictional character in a popular advertisement promoting the British
Yellow Pages
The yellow pages are telephone directories of businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for ...
, first shown in 1983 when
British Telecom
BT Group plc (trade name, trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is th ...
was privatised.
Plot
The advertisement shows an elderly gentleman (played by
Norman Lumsden) asking in several second hand bookshops for "''Fly Fishing'' by J. R. Hartley". No bookshop has it, and he goes home dejected. His daughter, sympathising, hands him the
Yellow Pages
The yellow pages are telephone directories of businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for ...
; and one of the shops he phones has a copy. He is delighted. The unheard questioner asks for his name and he responds at dictation speed: 'My name? Oh, yes, it's J. R. Hartley.' The advertisement ends by promoting the Yellow Pages, the
voiceover
Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations. ...
provided by actor
Joss Ackland
Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland CBE (born 29 February 1928) is an English retired actor who has appeared in more than 130 film and television roles. He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for portraying Jock Del ...
.
Reception
In 2015, a poll was carried out to mark the 60th anniversary of the first British television advertisement break. This advertisement was rated fifth most popular with 7% of the vote.
Legacy
Author Michael Russell wrote and published a spoof called ''
Fly Fishing: Memories of Angling Days, by J. R. Hartley'' in 1991. The book was a best seller and led to two additional best sellers under the pseudonym J. R. Hartley: ''J.R. Hartley Casts Again – More Memories of Angling Days'' (1992) and ''Golfing by J. Hartley'' (1995).
[ When Lumsden died on 28 November 2001 at the age of 95, the advertisement was broadcast again in his memory, nearly 20 years after its first appearance. In February 2011, Yellow Pages re-made the advertisement, with fictional DJ Day V. Lately searching for a copy of his ]trance
Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...
remix ''Pulse and Thunder'', which was released for sale at the same time.
In a nod to the original advert, Yellow Pages' online site Yell.com hold an annual award ceremony for their employees, the awards are called "The Yell Hartley Awards"
See also
* ''I, Libertine
''I, Libertine'' is a literary hoax novel that began as a practical joke by late-night radio raconteur Jean Shepherd who aimed to lampoon the process of determining best-selling books. After generating substantial attention for a novel that didn ...
''
* List of pseudonyms of angling authors
Since the 18th century, hundreds of angling authors have adopted pseudonyms for their books, for their contributions to journals and the popular press. Pen names for angling authors were most common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. T ...
References
External links
The advert on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartley, J. R.
Advertising characters
Male characters in advertising
1983 in British television
British television commercials
Pseudonymous writers
Mascots introduced in 1983