J. R. Hartley

J. R. Hartley is both the name of a fictional character and an author's pseudonym inspired by it.

The fictional author

The fictional character appeared in television advertisements for British commercial telephone directory company Yellow Pages, first shown in 1983. The character was played by the actor Norman Lumsden.

The advertisement shows an elderly man going into several bookshops asking for a book called "Fly Fishing" by an author named 'J. R. Hartley'. Every attempt fails, and the next scene shows him at home looking dejected. His daughter, sympathising, hands him a copy of the Yellow Pages, and the next scene features him looking delighted as a bookshop replies that they have a copy of the book. He asks them to keep it for him, and they ask for his name. He replies, 'My name? Oh, yes, it's J. R. Hartley.'

The advertisement is one of the most popular ever made in Britain, and remained a part of popular culture long after it ceased to be shown. The advertisement was affectionately parodied many times in the 1980s, by comedians such as Jasper Carrott and Mel Smith & Griff Rhys Jones. When Lumsden died on 28 November 2001 at the age of 95, despite his numerous other roles and distinguished career as an opera singer, the death of the man who played J. R. Hartley was the national headlines, and the advertisement was broadcast again in his memory, nearly 20 years after its first appearance. See below for a link to the video on YouTube.

Life imitates art

An author who had brought out a book about fly fishing in 1991 noted how much of a cult figure the fictional Hartley had become, and published it under the pseudonym J R Hartley. Two further books on the subject followed, under the same name.

In culture

* The character 'Tim, Nice But Dim', from the British television comedy series "Harry Enfield and Chums", goes into a book shop and asks for the book "Fly Fishing" which he has recently seen advertised on television.
* In the stage show version of the sitcom "Bottom", Eddie Hitler (played by Adrian Edmondson) is asked his name, and he says 'My name... J. R. Hartley'.
* In "A Bit of Fry & Laurie", there is a sketch based on the pretext of an elderly gentleman going into a bookshop and asking for "Fly Fishing" by J.R. Hartley. The two shop assistants inform him that on the previous day, they had hundreds of copies, but have now sold out completely. The gentleman instead asks for a copy of the Yellow Pages, and gives his name as 'Pages. L. O. Pages.'
*An episode of the satirical comedy show "Bremner, Bird and Fortune" parodied the advertisement with a sketch set in the near future, in which Lord Butler is searching for a copy of the Butler Report. The sketch ends with an image of the report being dropped onto a heap of previous government reports, and a voice-over saying: 'Good old yellowing pages'.
* In an edition of "Panorama", entitled "Must Have Own Teeth", the advertisement is redubbed with J. R. Hartley going into several shops asking if they have a position available. Eventually, in his armchair, he finds a potential position and after giving his name and age, he looks dejected and says, 'Oh, I'm too old.'
* In a digitally edited version of the advert, shown on BBC1's "Carrott's Commercial Breakdown", J. R. Hartley is shown asking a shopkeeper, played by Jasper Carrott for the book at a shop which has a special window display on "Fly Fishing".
* More recently Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant & Karl Pilkington parodied the advert to promote the release of the book "The World Of Karl Pilkington" in a video podcast. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW27jGGbrTo]
* In the "Kedleston 18" (2003) episode of Bargain Hunt, host David Dickinson cheekily asks whether J.R. Hartley is the person bidding up the price on an antique fishing reel.

External links

* [http://www.yellgroup.com/english/aboutyell-yelluk-yellukadvertisingpromotion-historicadvertisingtelevision Yell:UK page about historic advertisements for Yellow Pages]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0525972/bio IMDB biography of Norman Lumsden]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4310537,00.html Obituary for Lumsden in the Guardian]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abt6wGtWVX8 Video of the advert on YouTube (1992 version)]

ee also

*I, Libertine