Moments in Time

The memory sometimes plays cruel tricks, bringing back moments you'd rather forget, in this particular case greeted now with a rueful grimace. It was nearing the end of term and I was stocktaking in the History Cupboard—a deeply boring task. Lost in the moment I began singing to myself: ‘I’m too sexy for my shirt.’ Moving books from shelf to shelf, I became more and more carried away, moving to the music, Just me and thirty Medieval History text books: 

I’m too sexy for my shirt. 

Too Sexy for my shirt 

So sexy it hurts 

And I’m too sexy for Milan

Too Sexy for Milan

 New York and Japan

I'd been possessed by a dust-devil, who'd been waiting his moment. My soft but sexy growl ended abruptly when I heard the giggling, swivelled, and saw four of my students peeping from behind the door. 

The memory brings with it amusement and embarrassment equally mixed. On this occasion it also reminded me of adverts, one in particular, which I'll come to later.

It may be a sign of age – policemen appearing younger etc—but in my opinion TV adverts once enjoyed a golden age, their jingles and story lines indelibly etched. With streaming and the fast forward button, I suspect that time has gone for ever and with it, perhaps the creativity and fun of adverts past. 

Below are just a few of those, decades later haunt the mind as fresh as they ever were.

The original pester power advert that was eventually modified from mum to  chum.

The advert was a classic and they retained both tune and slogan right up until the 1980's. Not bad for product made up from glucose syrup, sugar, hydrogenated vegetable fat, molasses, salt, soya lecithin and flavourings

And Double Diamond, the Devil's drink, but with a tune I still can't get out of my head

 

And bringing it full circle to my opening Too Sexy moment another spider in the corner waiting to pounce: The Shake and Vac advert

One beautiful Saturday morning, the dust-devil struck again. Clad in pyjamas and a brown towelled dressing gown, I started hoovering the lounge. The jingle erupted from somewhere deep in my head. It erupted without warning and took me along with it. In moments, I was cavorting around the lounge waving the vacuum cleaner, doing the shake and vac. What a man chooses to do within the privacy of his own house is nobody else’s business. A nice theory. Unfortunately, two friends, having knocked at the door and not been heard were now peering in through the window. I like to think they didn’t hear anything, but merely saw me dancing with my vacuum cleaner.   

And to clear the unfortunate image from your mind, my favourite TV advert from all time starring the genius of Leonard Rossiter. That's something else you rarely see in adverts now: wit and a story line that you look forward to—often more than the program you're actually watching. 

Enjoy —especially the one with the four Japanese business men.