MY GOODNESS... MY GILROY!

Of my many books,  The Book of Guinness Advertising, written in 1985 – despite being long out of print and later pillaged (without acknowledgement) for another volume of the same name – remains one of those of which I am proudest.

It was inspired by an early love of the witty, stylish and decorative ads created for Guinness stout: an appreciation instilled in me by my father who had worked in commercial art (as it was then called) before WWII and who later became an architectural draughtsman for a rival brewery.

Dad would comment on Guinness posters and press ads and it was the artists, cartoonists and illustrators who made them that became my first heroes in the sphere of graphic art: Bateman, Fraser, Eckersley, Games, Searle, Hoffnung, Emett, Ardizzone and others.

When I got to write my book (the first to explore the Guinness advertising legacy) I met many of the artists and copywriters who had been responsible for the work I had long admired and collected, among them John Gilroy who, more than anyone was responsible for establishing the quirky way in which the brewers promoted their celebrated beverage.

Playing on the words associated with Guinness – for example 'strength' and 'goodness' – Gilroy's iconic ads featured, among much else, stolid British workmen displaying acts of titanic endurance and a mischievous menagerie of birds and beasts that consistently conspired to steal the long-suffering Zoo-keeper's bottle of sustenance...

 

Now comes a grand new book by David Hughes, entitled Gilroy was Good for Guinness which focuses entirely on John Gilroy's prolific output for Guinness campaigns.

Accompanying a first-ever biography of Gilroy, is a veritable one-man art exhibition crammed full of much-loved favourites (the ostriches, toucans and sea lions being as playful as ever, great sporting jokes and the surprising adventures of Alice in a Guinness Wonderland) along with highly energetic preliminary sketches for some of the artist's classic poster designs and intriguing ideas that never got beyond the stage of 'roughs'...

There is also an amazing cache of 'lost' art created not for selling Guinness in the UK, but also around the world...

The 260-page book, which has an introduction by the artist's grandson, Jim Gilroy, and a foreword by Rory Guinness, is published in hardback by Liberties Press at £29.99. As a special offer, copies can be purchased for £20.00 directly from the author, signed by him and the other contributors along with Edward Guinness, 4th Earl of Iveagh. Contact David Hughes to order.

As well as passing complimentary comments about my own volume, Gilroy was Good for Guinness includes several examples of Guinness art from my own collection including this preliminary pastel drawing of the Bear from the zoo series that was given to me by the artist...

 

DIAMOND-CUT MEMORIES

Sixty years ago today, 2 June, 1953, I was a toddler attending a street party in honour of the fact that it was the day of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation.

Here are a handful of commemorative souvenirs that – at the time – I was too young to appreciate, but which, six decades on, give me considerable delight for being so thoroughly British!

The Official Programme (Price 2/6) with black-and-white interior art by, I suspect, Eric Fraser...

...the front cover of the BBC's official publication,The Radio Times, unquestionably by Fraser...

...the cover and some pages from a booklet celebrating England's Queens, entitled Came the Fair Young Queen, published to mark the Coronation by the gentleman's clothiers, Moss Bros, with text by noted theatre critic, Eric Keown, and amazing illustrations by the wonderful (but now largely forgotten) illustrator, Anthony Groves-Raines...

And, finally, a poster by Guinness featuring the brewery's advertising animal menagerie that were so famous there was no need to display the name of the advertiser (beyond the ostrich-guzzled beer glass)...

SLAINTE!

This is a year old, but still fun...

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY!

TOP O' THE MORNIN'

Today is Lá Fhéile Pádraig... Otherwise known as...

St Patrick's Day!

And guess what I've just discovered? It's hard to believe, but it turns out that Patrick (who lived 387-461, or thereabouts) wasn't actually Irish at all but --- WELSH!

Said to have been born 'Maewyn Succat', he was captured in his native Wales when he was about 16 by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he worked as a herdsman.

The young lad came from a religious family (his grandfather was a priest) and he managed kept his faith in exile. Six years later - having been told by a Voice that he would soon go home - Patrick managed to escape his captivity, return to his family and entered the church.

Now in his twenties Patrick, apparently, received a vision as he later recounted in a letter written in Latin...

I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: "The Voice of the Irish".

As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea—and they cried out, as with one voice: "We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us.

Patrick answered that call and whilst little is known about his missionary work in the Emerald Isle - other than through legends (such as driving the snakes out of Ireland and using the shamrock as a visual aid to teaching the doctrine of the Trinity) by the eighth century he had become the patron saint of Ireland.

St Patrick's Day, traditionally celebrated on 17 March is a bank holiday in Northern Ireland and a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland and Montserrat.

"Montserrat?" you ask, "The British territory in the Leeward Islands?" (You did ask that, didn't you?) Well, yes! Montserrat is known as the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean, partly because its coastline approximates that of Ireland and partly because the majority of residents are of Irish descent. Appropriately, the island's national flag incorporates the a coat of arms featuring a lady in green with a harp.


Elsewhere in the world, St Patrick's Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated by the imbibing of those two beverages beloved of the Irish: Jameson's and Guinness.

In America there's been considerable lobbying for it to be made into a national day of celebration, alongside the other official holidays as can be seen from these Guinness advertisements, featuring interviews with spokesmen for Thanksgiving Day, Independence Day and Presidents Day...

But why not? After all, as the old saying puts it: "On March 17, everyone is Irish!"

One of the quaintest (or to put another way, 'most bizarre') traditions marking St Patrick's Day is that of dyeing the Chicago River green.

According to Bill King, the administrator of Chicago's St. Patrick's Day committee, "the idea of dyeing the Chicago River green originally came about by accident when a group of plumbers were using fluorescein dye to trace illegal substances that were polluting the river".

The United States Environmental Protection Agency outlawed the use of fluorescein, since when a vegetable based dye has been used that is reputedly non-harmful to the various living organisms inhabiting the Chicago river, including a population of several thousand goldfish.

Anyway this is what it looks it...

It is, as they say, a great day for the Irish. But whether you are or not... Have a great day!

EATING'S BELIEVING

Such is the power of a well-established brand image that, for the duration of the World Cup, Mars bars have been renamed ‘BELIEVE’ (as in “Believe England can win”) and yet we still recognise the product when we see it for sale.

Few products have such nationwide awareness; although, in 1953, Guinness was able to produce a poster celebrating the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II which featured the then-popular Guinness zoo-animals but without any slogan or product placement - other, that is, than a tell-tale glass of Guinness lodged halfway down the Ostrich’s throat.