In 2001 Lumsden contracted shingles and died from subsequent infection at the age of 95. [9] After his death the "Fly Fishing by JR Hartley" advert was rebroadcast as a tribute. Search is all about hunting stuff down; it requires people make an effort in a world where the effortless is king. What if we could make that easier? People have physical manifestations when something piques our interest or reminds us of an urgent task. The more usage there is the more people will advertise, and the more people who advertise the more information there is in the book, and the more information there is in the book the more useful it is, so it’s a virtuous circle,” he explains.

Ads as culture makers and business developers that go beyond mere ‘promotion’: Nicolas Roope, executive creative director & co-founder, Poke I recounted this story to David and Leslie [Butterfield, then planning director at AMV], and this little experience really triggered something in David’s mind.” Eyman, Scott (April 18, 1993). "Counterfeit Brit's wet-sport wit runs dry, then dries up". The Palm Beach Post . Retrieved May 18, 2021– via Newspapers.com.

Changing perceptions

I loved the whole adventure: meeting the famous director Bob Brooks and the actor Norman Lumsden (a veteran opera singer) playing JRH, and having the house transformed with Victorian whatnots, antimacassars, cache-pots, jardinières – and wall-mounted glass cases containing prize trout. In the 1980s, advertising was used to dramatise this poor old man’s search, but that won’t work today. People don’t buy into fiction anymore; they want reality. We want to engage with a story and help affect its outcome, and the technology allows this to happen. Vines, Sidney (November 30, 1991). "A whopper landed by central casting". The Spectator. pp.46–47. Archived from the original on May 18, 2021 . Retrieved May 18, 2021.

Of course, there were hitches. Michael Russell delighted in the van driver who returned to base with a full van load of books, protesting that he had been unable to find London. Russell christened him “Pathfinder”: “He’d got to Staines, so he was getting warm.” The shoot happened on the hottest day of the year. The producer, John Cigarini, strolled in at midday in shades and T-shirt, ignoring me (an elephantine hausfrau, eight months pregnant), and startled the nanny and children by placing his trainers on the kitchen table, seizing our phone and dictating a long Sunday Times classified ad: ‘1969 Mercedes convertible for sale – whitewall tyres, stereo system’ etc. The cheek! He then went outside, fell into his open-top Merc and snoozed all afternoon while his crew toiled on. At Oxford, however, academic ambition deserted him, as he registered an Aegrotat in Mods and a Fourth in Greats.a b Wooley, Benjamin (1993). Virtual Worlds: A Journey in Hype and Hyperreality. Penguin Science. p. 5. ISBN 0140154396.