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BR Inter-City ad from the early seventies

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crosscity

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You can see quite a number of BR ads in various places on the internet, but there is one ad I can't find. It was aired in the Yorkshire TV area in the early seventies (maybe 72/73) and consisted of a Deltic+8 racing along the East Coast main line not far out of Kings Cross, as it was shot going through one of the tunnels at Hadleigh Wood or Potters Bar. A poem was read out which went something like:
"Beautifully smooth,
Beautifully smooth
Office on wheels
Office on wheels
Make Inter-City
Your office on wheels...."
plus another verse about relaxing and the permanent way, all in a Robert Louis Stephenson style mimicking the sound of the train.
Does anyone recall this ad, know the words, or best of all know where it can be viewed?
 
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ChiefPlanner

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I recall that ad - with the final words ..

"Inter City , big blue train.
Away from it all , and home again"


As good as the ticket wallets for the "new" WCML services in 1974.

"Close your eyes , and you are almost there"
 

crosscity

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I recall that ad - with the final words ..

"Inter City , big blue train.
Away from it all , and home again"


As good as the ticket wallets for the "new" WCML services in 1974.

"Close your eyes , and you are almost there"
Yes, you have got the one - the lines you quote are as I remember - so I wasn't dreaming it after all!
Which part of the world were you living in when you saw the ad? I can't work out whether it was part of a regional or national campaign. The Deltic makes me think it was an Eastern Region thing.
 

ChiefPlanner

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Yes, you have got the one - the lines you quote are as I remember - so I wasn't dreaming it after all!
Which part of the world were you living in when you saw the ad? I can't work out whether it was part of a regional or national campaign. The Deltic makes me think it was an Eastern Region thing.

South West Wales , not Deltic land !
 

crosscity

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South West Wales , not Deltic land !
So clearly a national campaign.
Now, in my recollection, the poem was read. However 'Inter City big blue trains....' was a jingle - ie sung. For some reason it's imprinted on my mind, like many other jingles. I'm wondering whether that came from another ad. There'd have to be a transition from voice to jingle for it to be in the same ad.

I will see if I can find the website containing some more BR-era ads, before Saville and 'this is the age of the train'.
 

D9001

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You can see quite a number of BR ads in various places on the internet, but there is one ad I can't find. It was aired in the Yorkshire TV area in the early seventies (maybe 72/73) and consisted of a Deltic+8 racing along the East Coast main line not far out of Kings Cross, as it was shot going through one of the tunnels at Hadleigh Wood or Potters Bar. A poem was read out which went something like:
"Beautifully smooth,
Beautifully smooth
Office on wheels
Office on wheels
Make Inter-City
Your office on wheels...."
plus another verse about relaxing and the permanent way, all in a Robert Louis Stephenson style mimicking the sound of the train.
Does anyone recall this ad, know the words, or best of all know where it can be viewed?



Crosscity, I lived in the Tyne Tees TV area and remember this ad. It was late 1960s rather than 70s.

The voiceover poem went like the clickety clack of the rails, I can’t remember it all but it included:

Beautifully smooth, beautifully smooth
Office on wheels, office on wheels
Make Inter-City your office on wheels
Going by car? Far too far!
Toasting a winner at civilised dinner
Make Inter-City your permanent way
Beautifully smooth, beautifully smooth....


The one quoted by Chief Planner was from the 1970s and a completely different advert from the Beautifully Smooth one. It featured sleepy children with their mother on the way home after an Awayday in London. It featured their mother singing the following to the tune of Over The Hills and Far Away:

Once we hadn’t ever been to London Town
Never seen a river where the boats go down
Now we’ve travelled Inter-City and we’ve been today
Over the hills and far away

Nelson on his column, he was glad we came
The Queen was in her parlour she felt just the same
Now we’ve travelled Inter-City and we’ve been today
Over the hills and far away...

Inter-City big blue train
away from it all and home again


Why do people have to assume that Savile voiced every BR advert, for heaven’s sake? He did it for about 2 years, that’s all.
 

ChiefPlanner

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Crosscity, I lived in the Tyne Tees TV area and remember this ad. It was late 1960s rather than 70s.

The voiceover poem went like the clickety clack of the rails, I can’t remember it all but it included:

Beautifully smooth, beautifully smooth
Office on wheels, office on wheels
Make Inter-City your office on wheels
Going by car? Far too far!
Toasting a winner at civilised dinner
Make Inter-City your permanent way
Beautifully smooth, beautifully smooth....


The one quoted by Chief Planner was from the 1970s and a completely different advert from the Beautifully Smooth one. It featured sleepy children with their mother on the way home after an Awayday in London. It featured their mother singing the following to the tune of Over The Hills and Far Away:

Once we hadn’t ever been to London Town
Never seen a river where the boats go down
Now we’ve travelled Inter-City and we’ve been today
Over the hills and far away

Nelson on his column, he was glad we came
The Queen was in her parlour she felt just the same
Now we’ve travelled Inter-City and we’ve been today
Over the hills and far away...

Inter-City big blue train
away from it all and home again


Why do people have to assume that Savile voiced every BR advert, for heaven’s sake? He did it for about 2 years, that’s all.


Well done , and thanks - now who can remember the 1980's Inter City advert "relax" , with the chess players. ? Style and sepia photography.

None of this post 1996 hype. !
 

yorksrob

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It has to be the Concerto ad for me. "Britain's Railway".

Lots of trains in the best liveries, in the best scenery. (And they even find space for a VEP as well!).
 

GusB

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Well done and thanks - now who can remember the 1980's Inter City advert "relax" , with the chess players. ? Style and sepia photography.

None of this post 1996 hype. !
That was one that I liked, and available on YouTube.
 

Peter Mugridge

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The voiceover poem went like the clickety clack of the rails, I can’t remember it all but it included:

Beautifully smooth, beautifully smooth
Office on wheels, office on wheels
Make Inter-City your office on wheels
Going by car? Far too far!
Toasting a winner at civilised dinner
Make Inter-City your permanent way
Beautifully smooth, beautifully smooth....


...and promptly ripped off by Russ Abbott in his sketch show for his spoof James Bond character.

"My name is Bond, Basildon Bond..."
 

ChiefPlanner

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That was one that I liked, and available on YouTube.

That is the one - superb - (trains are great for sleeping on , or just "switching right off" - outside the L+SE peak that is !) - very clever indeed.
 

yorksrob

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...and promptly ripped off by Russ Abbott in his sketch show for his spoof James Bond character.

"My name is Bond, Basildon Bond..."

Anyone remember Russ's spoof of the "Get a ticket, not a criminal record" campaign. Where he shows the guard a copy of Des O'Connor's greatest hits :lol:

Anyway, I digress.
 

crosscity

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Crosscity, I lived in the Tyne Tees TV area and remember this ad. It was late 1960s rather than 70s.

The voiceover poem went like the clickety clack of the rails, I can’t remember it all but it included:

Beautifully smooth, beautifully smooth
Office on wheels, office on wheels
Make Inter-City your office on wheels
Going by car? Far too far!
Toasting a winner at civilised dinner
Make Inter-City your permanent way
Beautifully smooth, beautifully smooth....
I remember the "permanent way" line, but not the line before. I think there were two extra lines with the rhyming words "relaxing" and "taxing" before the "permanent way" line. Can you remember which lines were read out with echo effect as the Deltic went through the tunnel?

It's a shame that a copy of the ad hasn't made it on to the internet. Perhaps the film was lost or destroyed. Although it was my favourite railway ad, I can't remember whether it was in B&W or colour. For a late sixties ad I suspect the former.
 

D9001

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I remember the "permanent way" line, but not the line before. I think there were two extra lines with the rhyming words "relaxing" and "taxing" before the "permanent way" line. Can you remember which lines were read out with echo effect as the Deltic went through the tunnel?

It's a shame that a copy of the ad hasn't made it on to the internet. Perhaps the film was lost or destroyed. Although it was my favourite railway ad, I can't remember whether it was in B&W or colour. For a late sixties ad I suspect the former.



I don’t remember any echo effect or a tunnel tbh. I just remember a long shot of a Deltic hauled Express with the rhyme starting and the sound of the Deltic engines and the rhyme getting progressively louder as the Deltic got closer. What I remember is that the Deltic passed the camera with the appropriate change in engine tone of course, then the sound of the carriages. When the carriages had passed and silence gradually descended the rhyme started again, “beautifully smooth.....” then faded away.

As we only had a black and white tv then I don’t know if it was colour or not.
 
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crosscity

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I don’t remember any echo effect or a tunnel tbh. I just remember a long shot of a Deltic hauled Express with the rhyme starting and the sound of the Deltic engines and the rhyme getting progressively louder as the Deltic got closer. What I remember is that the Deltic passed the camera with the appropriate change in engine tone of course, then the sound of the carriages. When the carriages had passed and silence gradually descended the rhyme started again, “beautifully smooth.....” then faded away.

As we only had a black and white tv then I don’t know if it was colour or not.
I'm pretty sure the train went through a short tunnel, early on. The rest is as you describe, with the Doppler effect as the Deltic passes the camera.

ITV didn't start colour transmissions until Dec '69 so it was more than likely in B&W. We also didn't have a colour TV until well into the 70's, courtesy of a rental from Redifusion. The new colour TV's were readily on display at Dixon's if memory serves me right (not that I'd spend much time viewing one through a shop window!).
 
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