"Quickies" 23 - Gold Hill

This is Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, North Dorset. It is most famous for a TV advert that premiered 53 years ago, which is hard to believe. The advertisement was for Hovis bread and depicted a delivery boy on a bike freewheeling down the hill after having had to struggle up it. Most of us thought this was Yorkshire in the north of England where we thought the product hailed from, but this street was used instead because of it's unspoiled appearance, setting the scene in an idealised past. Hovis actually originated from Cheshire

What I also didn't realise was that the TV ad in question was one of the earliest works of Ridley Scott who went on to make Hollywood blockbusters, like Alien, Gladiator and Blade Runner.

The view in the distance is of the Blackmore Vale and the hill still carries the nickname of "Hovis Hill".

The street starts at the top of the town of Shaftesbury which has an ancient history of it's own. It descends past the high retaining walls of what was Shaftesbury Abbey. The abbey was founded in the year 888, yes that is 3 digits not 4, it was so long ago. The abbey was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539. The abbey was founded by no less an historical figure than Alfred the Great. Recorded history takes us back to the early 700's when there was an important minster church here. Shaftesbury was considered a stronghold against Viking invasion by Alfred, hence it's defensive position on top of this hill. As a Saxon stronghold it suffered much during the Norman invasion

Boy on the Bike was one of five adverts that Ridley Scott directed for Hovis in the early 1970s. The advert has frequently been named one of Britain's most loved adverts. In 2006 it was voted the nation's favourite advertisement of all time. It was chosen as the best advert of the 1970s in a 2018 YouGov poll. In 2019 it was named the most iconic and heart-warming advert of the past 60 years to that point.

As you can see from the advert, it hasn't changed much.

The Two Ronnies spoofed the Hovis advert in a sketch filmed in 1978, also filmed at Gold Hill. They recreated the advert in detail, except that the delivery boy is now in middle age, still delivering to the top of the hill and speaks in a northern accent.

The street has also featured in other films and adverts including the 1967 film version of Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd.

Gold Hill, where the advert was filmed, has since become a popular location for films and merchandise. A memorial to Hovis now stands at the top of the hill.