J. R. Hartley

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

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 asking in several second-hand bookshops (which are recognisably real shops in London's Cecil Court) for "Fly Fishing by J. R. Hartley". Every attempt fails, and the next scene shows him at home looking dejected. His daughter, sympathising, hands him the Yellow Pages; in the next scene he looks delighted as his end of a telephone conversation reveals that a shop has a copy of the book. He asks them to keep it for him. He responds at dictation speed to a question: 'My name? Oh, yes, it's J. R. Hartley.' The advertisement ends by promoting the Yellow Pages.

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, Harry Enfield, Fry and Laurie, and Mel Smith and 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 in the national headlines, and the advertisement was broadcast again in his memory, nearly 20 years after its first appearance.

Life imitates art

See also: Pseudonyms of notable angling authors

Michael Russell, 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 with the title Fly Fishing: Memories of Angling Days. A further book on the subject followed, under the same pseudonym (J. R. Hartley Casts Again: More Memories of Angling Days).

In culture

• The character 'Tim, Nice But Dim', from the British television comedy series Harry Enfield and Chums, goes into a bookshop and asks for the book Fly Fishing, which he has recently seen advertised on television.
• In the first stage show 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 Hutton is searching for a copy of the Hutton 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 and Karl Pilkington parodied the advert to promote the release of the book The World Of Karl Pilkington in a video podcast.
• 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.
• Eddie Izzard, for his routine in Hysteria!, a 1991 comedy show for the Terrence Higgins Trust, opens saying the audience must read a book called Sex, Drugs, and Me by J. R. Hartley.
• In the radio show The Mary Whitehouse Experience the reference frequently popped up – initially as a parody of the affair surrounding The Satanic Verses, later as a stock answer in almost every round of the 'punchline competition' in which the audience were asked to come up with punchlines.
• In TV sitcom Not Going Out, in series 2, episode 3, Lee (Lee Mack) asks for "a book on fly fishing by J. R. Hartley" when he meets a woman he thinks is a librarian working in a gentleman's club.
• In series 1, episode 2 of Lee Mack's All Star Cast, Lee Mack asks Henry Winkler, having just spoke of Winkler's recently published book on Fly Fishing, who the author of "the most famous Fly Fishing Book in Britain" is, stating that even though he is most likely the most knowledgeable person in the room on Fly Fishing, he is also likely the only person who does not know the answer. The answer, of course, is J. R. Hartley.

Revamp

The advert was remade in 2011 to feature a retired DJ named Day V Lately searching second-hand record shops for a 1992 trance mix he made. He eventually finds a shop stocking it through the Yell app on his daughter's iPhone. The revamp is intended to mark Yell's presence in the digital age.

See also

• I, Libertine

External links

• Yell:UK page about historic advertisements for Yellow Pages
• IMDB biography of Norman Lumsden
• Obituary for Lumsden in the Guardian
• Video of the advert on YouTube (1992 version)
• Fry and Laurie spoof on BBC Worldwide's YouTube channel