Gold Hill, Shaftesbury - The Most Famous Street In England Linked To BREAD & ALIENS!?

[@IN_THIS_DAY_AND_AGE]

Ronnie Barker's version of the bread advert was even better than the original.

[@frankmitchell3594]

Burrit wa bluddy long wey fur'a loaf o'bread

[@gravydavy4188]

I love the fact that theres an option to translate youre comment. 😂 fork handles. ​@@frankmitchell3594

[@maxmouse713]

As an American fan of all things comedy, that how even I know of this advert.

[@mikeakachorlton]

I think that's were the false memory of the northern Hovis ad came from :)

[@solsticepilgrim]

Agreed, he forgot to mention the Two Ronnies

[@sarkybugger5009]

"As good today as it's always been." I saw what you did there. Well played.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Nice one, Thanks for watching!

[@EdMcF1]

The brass music in the ad always made me think it was filmed in Yorkshire.

[@georgerobartes2008]

It's called " Largo " from the New World Symphony , we covered it in music lessons in school when the ad was released .

[@frazerguest2864]

Sheffield (Yorkshire),born and bred here, and I’m old enough to remember this advert when it was originally aired on TV. As a kid, I also always assumed that the advert was filmed in Yorkshire or Lancashire.

[@pwblackmore]

ditto

[@ronhall9394]

There aare probably several sinilair locations in Yorkshire and Lancashire, cobbled roads, old sandstone buildings etc - however too far from London for the production crew.

[@acw7120]

@@frazerguest2864 It is so steep it is actually silly....that is a lorra apples...

[@WILLIAM1690WALES]

When director Ridley Scott filmed this advert Gold Hill everything was wrapped up, but for some reason as it was the end of the day, he stopped, told them to unpack everything and shot it again, because of this superb evening light, and that was actually used in the actual advert, I was there two years after the filming.

[@Stephen_Lafferty]

A great advert! Even though I don't buy Hovis, I always think well of the brand because of the warm feelings of nostalgia evoked by these images. Hovis certainly got their money's worth from Ridley Scott on that assignment!

[@FurbleFawks]

I love these kind of videos when you make them. It's completely outside the regular road content but it only goes to prove your excellence in content creation and storytelling.

[@David_D.]

Spot on. Jon could make a video about drying paint and he'd have my full attention! 😁

[@MattBrunton1965]

Go on Jon..we dare you.

[@MINKIN2]

And to think, if it wasn't for the advert making the scene so iconic, the whole street would all have be tarmacked over.

[@AutoShenanigans]

I think you're right about that!

[@neilgodwin6531]

Definitely. The council tarmaced the last cobbled lane in my town, a hill I climbed to get home from school, work, and as a kid, carrying my grans shopping, sometime in the 80's. Nobody knew it was happening, unfortunately, so no protests. If you want to see a REAL "Hovis hill", visit the Black Country Living Museum. Longer, steeper hills and cobbles. I had to take an unfortunate man around there in a wheelchair. Must have been like NASA training, no suspension on those things

[@derekr1113]

Jon, you are one of the best video makers on youtube and the best thing since sliced bread

[@saintuk70]

Good today as he's always been.

[@paulandjana]

I bet he’s his mothers pride.

[@danielmarshall4587]

......nice

[@mariemccann5895]

He's on a roll that is for sure.

[@smurp6392]

Does he make enough dough from it though?

[@EcoHamletsUK]

Many years ago, I stayed in a B&B at the top of the hill, and the best pub I found in the town was at the bottom of it. Alchohol makes the hill feel even steeper!

[@andrewrobinson9610]

Aye the two brewers it’s a really good pub but getting to the bus station at closing is a slog

[@sprint955st]

Same at the Isle of Wight. The Spyglass is a lovely pub, but ideally don’t stay at the top of Zig Zag Road, Ventnor.

[@mariemccann5895]

@@sprint955st Don't stay on the Isle of Wight, period.

[@moonshinepz]

trouble is you've sobered up by the time you get back to your B&B 🍺

[@sprint955st]

@@mariemccann5895 we must have had different experiences. Mine was very enjoyable.

[@KeefJudge]

I'd always assumed that ad was somewhere in Yorkshire. Today I learned!

[@mariemccann5895]

Indeed, I'm sure at the time it was claimed it was filmed in Halifax, but clearly that was not the case.

[@HALLish-jl5mo]

Hovis spent weeks scouring Yorkshire for a filming location, before someone mentioned that theyd been to this street on holiday and would it do? The advert was implicitly set in Yorkshire.

[@mariemccann5895]

@@HALLish-jl5mo Source?

[@RW-nr6bh]

​@@HALLish-jl5mo Although the 1973 advert is voiced over with a West Country accent.

[@darrelljohnson5837]

Was brought up in Shaftesbury and still have family there. One of the smaller houses on the hill was bought and renovated by my woodwork teacher. Found lots of interesting things hidden within the inner walls of the house, placed there when it was built. Used to have fairs on the hill selling livestock many many years ago. you can still see the holes in the stonework of the buttresses where wood was slotted in to keep the animals in pens. Gold Hill fair was a annual event in my childhood with music and stalls all through the town.

[@donalddodson7365]

Thank you, Jon. Hearing the Cor Anglais (aka English horn) solo from The Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", (Op. 95, B. 178), made my day! I am a retired oboist and got my first E.H. in 8th grade. Many fond memories. The Hovis story and road story bwas enjoyable, too. Blessings.

[@bigward1984]

The new world symphony is one of the greatest pieces of music ever written

[@Christina-ge3xr]

Love the oboe in From the New World….

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks mate, appreciate that as always! :)

[@bryan3550]

N.B. to Jon: Despite what it looks like, the composer's name is pronounced "D vore shak" 😘

[@andrewwebb3431]

I can’t let this video go without regurgitating the fact that Ridley Scott started his career as a prop and set designer at the BBC and was originally assigned to design the Daleks. But just before he was about to begin he was taken off the project to work on a higher priority show elsewhere. It’s one of those fascinating what ifs of popular culture, what if Ridley Scott had designed the Daleks?

[@peterc2248]

I remember being frightened of the Daleks when I watched Dr Who on the black and white telly in the late sixties and early seventies. When I watched the Alien fly out of John Hurt's guts at the local Odeon, I damn near crapped myself. I'm sooo happy he never got the job :-)

[@flickthenick]

Bet those Daleks wouldn't be able to either up or down that steep gradient...

[@skapunkno1]

The actual Daleks are quite HR Gigerish but the casings probably would of been different

[@pedanticradiator1491]

​@@flickthenick Daleks can fly

[@flickthenick]

@@pedanticradiator1491 that's just woke down with the kids nonsense, in my day they had little ramps to trundle around up and down even though I never saw one from behind the sofa...

[@1258-Eckhart]

Danke! "As good today as it's always been". Brilliant.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Nice one mate thanks a lot!

[@chrisbradley1192]

Excellent piece, Jon. There was another Hovis advert with a voiceover of a man with a northern accent recounting his boyhood days. His father was a baker and the script included the line, "...and when 't smell crept upstairs I knew it woh time to gerrup." This also might have obfuscated our memories of this advert.

[@snowwhitehair485]

Until now I could have sworn that the voiceover of 50 years ago was done with a northern accent. I even had a work colleague, (in Bristol), who used to do a recitation of the sound track in a Yorkshire accent to be entertaining. No one at work ever questioned the authenticity. Your explanation, along with the Brass Band music, has finally put me straight about why we all thought it was filmed 'Up North'.

[@neilbain8736]

Very moving! There were a few Hovis ads and The Grumbleweeds didn't half take the rise out of the them on their radio show. Some ads used Joe Gladwyn who played Wally Batty in Last of the Summer Wine, and the Grumbleweeds had his voice to perfection. They even had Joe Gladwyn himself on causing absolute audio mayhem with his Grumbleweed counterpart. The combination of New World Symphony and Joe Gladwyn's voice takes you to another planet.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Nice one, thanks for watching!

[@PhilbyFavourites]

0:50 when he goes down the hill on the bike with minimal brakes I wonder if Ridley Scott has his gruesome death, splattered against the brick wall at the bottom, in mind when he went on to film Alien?

[@normanstevens4924]

Wouldn't get that past Health and Safety today.

[@PhilbyFavourites]

@@normanstevens4924aye lad! You could wrap ‘im oop in slices of black pudding and that would absorb the impact. Completely acceptable to Yorkshire ‘elf and safety. Shame it’s in Dorset…..

[@catmandoodoo7903]

That piece of music always makes me tear up

[@mariemccann5895]

Awesome, you earned your crust today.

[@maxusboostus]

Brings back memories of Capstick Comes Home.

[@andrewm7945]

"I'll never forget that fust day at pit, me and fatha worked a 72-hour shift, then we walked home. 43 miles..." Quality!

[@markstott6689]

I was 5 when the advert came out and I remember it well. 😊❤😊

[@100SteveB]

I certainly remember it from when it first aired. Never knew it was filmed there though, I had always imagined it was filmed in the north. I was eight when it was first on the tv, but like you say, it's one of those adverts you can never forget. I also seem to remember possibly the Two Ronnie's doing a sketch based on the ad.

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

It may be imagined to be oop norf as far as the majority of the country is concerned but there's a whole world of stuff to discover here. From Shaftesbury Abbey, the weekly market, the independent shops right err down to the annual straw bale races up Gold Hill. Short they may at first appear but check out how absolutely wiped out even the very fittest race winner is in the videos. One last thing, if you're tempted to sample the delights of the maze of mediæval lanes as well as the famous hill, wear a coat. It's one of the highest points in Dorset and is always bloody cold!

[@dodgydruid]

Yes, I have noticed when its nice and clear here in Gill, there has been snow atop the tor :P

[@twocvbloke]

A fun fact about Exchange Street in Colne; as a child, I threw many a temper tantrum on it (because it was too effing steep!!!), having moved onto Patten Street (which is about 2/3rds of the way down Exchange St. going from Albert Rd.) in 1989 after living in Haswell Plough in Co. Durham which was flat as a pancake in comparison! As for the Hovis ad, the Two Ronnies parodied the ad with Barker walking up the street, with him doing a voice over at the end in an Arkwright-esque northern accent, so it was probably that show taking the weewee that cemented it being "Northern", despite being in Dorset... :P

[@antonycharnock2993]

Ber ber ber bloody 'ell Granville. Strangely where Open All Hours was filmed is one of the steepest streets in Doncaster one of the flattest places in Yorkshire.

[@RonLaws]

THANK YOU - I was wracking my brain trying to figure out where i'd already seen this in moderately better fidelity than the advert, and it wasn't the advert I remember because i'm only 34, but the Two Ronnies i had def. seen it in, even if they are also a bit before my time, they've had many re-runs over the years.

[@barrieshepherd7694]

Love it - production values are getting beter and better! Please don't be offended but the narration made me think of Jack Dee introducing an episode of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue!

[@tardismole]

It also featured in a spoof of the Hovis ad, by The (late) Two Ronnies. I bet there's a fair few who remember that, too. As I recall, he spoke the lines in a Northern accent, roughly Leeds area, and had us in stitches.

[@bertbox69]

Very concise and eloquent, Shaftesbury Abbey - 'Open for church stuff', that literary award is winging it's way to you as I write.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Nice one, Thanks for watching!

[@i.c.d.-videos1901]

👏🏻 Me & my Dad were only talking about this awesome advert t'ther weekend & its deception to making us think this street was in Lancashire or Yorkshire and not Dorset.

[@RobSchofield]

... with the perfect finishing line 😀

[@Anonymoususer_8823]

I’m just here for the most beautiful and emotional music. That song is so beautiful it makes you want to cry so much. I have to say that it sure is a tourist attraction.

[@dools23]

Thanks for popping into Shaftesbury John. My family's farm is somewhere in that famous view. A cool fact is that a murdered king of England Edward the Martyr was buried in the abbey next door.

[@andrewdenby8239]

Good subject matter, well thought through and presented with a nostalgic warmth that's most welcome on such a chilly night, well done John, nailed it🎉

[@mistakay9019]

anyone that makes/shoots and edits film can instantly recognise that what Scott managed to evoke with so little that made the most to so many, even generations after; I think its pure genius.

[@whyyoulidl]

"... All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.”

[@frasermathers2287]

Great video Jon, and a great reminder of times of old and even although I could not be further away up here in Scotland of which I am proud, this advert also makes me proud to be British.

[@guyomalley2430]

Great, I remember staying in one of the thatched 4 storey cottages there growing up as family friends owned it, the house had a floor below street level that opened to the rear.

[@garymoores9248]

10 miles up the road from me... The Two Ronnies version of the Hovis advert is the best version

[@paulvale2985]

I never knew Hovis started on my home town, frickin' sweet awesome!!!

[@acciid]

I thought it was up north due to the voiceover. Until one day I was driving the A30 back to London from the South West (had some time and a nice convertible so wanted to skip the A303). Stopped for a break in Shaftesbury and there it was. In Dorset.

[@neilgodwin6531]

Just a few miles from James May's pub! He mentions the location every video he makes. Can't fault his advertising skills

[@comedyhunter]

I wanna see it on wheelie bin day 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Must be chaos

[@Andrewjg_89]

Never knew that Gold Hill in Shaftesbury is related to aliens. But it looks so beautiful and quaint and should be a heritage attraction.

[@danielmarshall4587]

Dvorak's New World Symphony... lovely bit of music. Smashing vid as well cheers.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Nice one, Thanks for watching!

[@ptonpc]

It always reminded me of Northern England. Now, the big question is.. When are we going to see your recreation of the advert?

[@Trek001]

I had sort of expected you to do this in the style of your normal videos with a numbering of junctions, slips, roundabouts and services

[@tadantoniak7121]

I like the way you wore a northerner's flat cap, but spoke in a southern accent whilst explaining the confusion with the location - clever. You could've done it the other way around and worn a straw boater and talked in a Northern accent, but everyone would've just thought you were Geoffrey Boycott

[@Bodneyblue]

Reminds me how old I'm getting... and that time is passing by so quickly. *sigh*

[@paulsengupta971]

Yeah. Tempus fugit.

[@whyyoulidl]

Hey MNIJ, hope yr having a great week! I hear the bakers shop closed down now; At yeast u got a few puns in... 😆

[@mikedonovan6392]

As good today as it’s always been……classic

[@stephenrothwell8142]

Ashington is where I was born and live. I never knew that the colliery band composed that piece. Things like that give you a sense of pride. Thanks matey.

[@R08Tam]

My sister used to live in Shaftesbury. I have many happy memories of the town

[@LOrealHardly]

Ridley Scott directed the first movie Alien (1979). Aliens, the sequel was directed by James Cameron. As a Scotsman it always struck me as a North of England setting. If Hovis tried to tempt Ridley back to do a new ad it sure would cost them a lot of.... "DON'T DO IT DAD...!" ....bread 😅 🤣😂

[@mrcjc9298]

I wouldn’t fancy going down that hill on 700c tyres though. 😱

[@andybarker5552]

It always makes me think of Capstick Comes Home

[@AtheistOrphan]

‘72-hour shift down t’pit’

[@ncot_tech]

Had Alien come out before the Hovis advert things could have been very different in the ending. Kid rolls down hill on bike, goes home *blam* chest burster at the dinner table 😆

[@aquissuk]

It's wholesome. I think the modern advert that is similar, is from Cadbury, where guy buys chocolate late on a Petrol forecourt, he leaves it....the girl says...you forgot this.....then...love you dad.

[@kevinweatheritt]

Nice one John. I always thought that that street was in a northern town.

[@del4ev]

Great video mate. Glad to see you expanding the variety of content too. Keep up the good work 😊

[@mariemccann5895]

He's on a roll!

[@MrFlash4203]

My dad talked this up. Tuesday I went down to Shaftesbury as I am a lorry driver and he was talking about this advert and stuff on the phone to me. Day later you upload it. Spooky.

[@DougieL]

That was very well done indeed!

[@AutoShenanigans]

Nice one, Thanks for watching!

[@albertperks3476]

It's a funny thing that advert having an association with a Northern tone. Had not realised that Ridley Scott had directed. Mind his brother Tony also did adds before Top Gun.

[@David_Crayford]

Heartwarming. Not unusual for locations to stand in. (EG Port of Ipswich stands in for Glasgow Docks in The Fourth Protocol, but the actor playing a copper has a Scottish accent.)

[@robertsrobots6531]

Gold Hill is also in the 1967 film of Far from the Madding Crowd. Terence Stamp leads his cavalry troop up it. Or maybe down it, I can't remember.

[@bushcraftdadgary5381]

i hope Hovis are gonna send you a few free loaves for that? Good vid, love it.

[@RebMordechaiReviews]

Ironic isn't it when our image of this road, the advert and Dvořák's second movement, "Largo", from his 9th symphony, conjures up feelings of nostalgia, of looking back on our British cultural heritage, on an age gone by, whereas the symphony is in fact titled "The New World" Symphony and is as British as Jambalaya and rice! The composer's intention was to celebrates African American culture of the United States. Dvořák wrote the music, very much to encourage us to look forward to a new brighter world. It only goes to show that "You don't always get what you want". Now that is British music.

[@Excession-h6e]

The Rolling Stones is about American as it gets. A lot of what I thought was my English past and heritage sadly doesn't survive scrutiny. I know they are from London, but their music is 100% Septic. Whitesnake, despite having a unique, and IMO the best voice in the genre, seems just a sad parody of them now.

[@chrisbentleywalkingandrambling]

If you get there, Hovis, in you, you will be going up those hills as fast as you come down.

[@iainmartin1015]

I also remember the reports of there being a brothel in one of the houses on Gold Hill.

[@suttoncoldfield9318]

Once we were on holiday in the area, so I took time out to visit and get photos of the view looking UP the hill.

[@OutRising]

Great video, with loads of things I didn't know before! The "open for church stuff.." really got me, along with the GI Jane burn XD

[@malcolmdalrymple1779]

Jon, what a pity no view of you riding your bike down Gold Hill. Thanks anyway. Always a joy to watch you videos.

[@stevem7868-y4l]

I ALWAYS presumed this advert was up North, WOW, i learnt something today!

[@spitfire1962]

I always thought it was set int t’ north until I started looking at properties in Dorset and came upon this place. As an aside, my wife plays a mean rendition of the tune on her flute.

[@wisteela]

I'd love to visit there. It looks lovely. I love the giant loaf of Hovis. I'd seen a pic of that somewhere.

[@LeeCorne]

I might be wrong but I think there might have been two voice-over versions of this advert, one for the south and one for the north. I lived in the West Midlands in the early 90s and I remember seeing this ad and being really thrown by the west-country accent, as I was used to seeing it with a Yorkshire voice-over. I might be completely wrong, but I suspect there were regionalised versions of this ad.

[@reddeviluk]

I think we assume that the advert is filmed in the north.... Because the boy is strong enough to ride up a hill..... BOOM!

[@bigdaddigaming]

Ridley Scott made the old Hovis ads, that's mind blowing, well after all these years you learn something like that

[@hujiproductions8457]

I know right! Alien and Blade Runner are in my top film list and I never knew this, just another information gem delivered to by Jon in his unique style 🙂

[@daveofyorkshire301]

The Hovis hill, and that music...

[@markweatherill]

I liked the Grumbleweeds' continual running joke on this advert!

[@joerhorton]

This brought back memories of learning to play the "Hovis Tune" on a Casio PT-20 at school in the 80's.

[@nikolibolokov4521]

GI Jane is a bloody good movie

[@JAY-lo3sx]

Father always said is was a bloody long way to go for a loaf of bread. ( Ronie Barker) 😂

[@MultiVogon]

OK, bit weird seeing the place I grew up in one of your vids 😅 I used to cycle up Gold Hill fairly regularly as a kid, so I'm probably in a fair few tourist's photo albums. They also filmed a TV series there called Scarf Jack - which I must watch again as my dearly departed dad's in it as an extra 🙂. Hope you had some dorset apple cake in the salt cellar after you finished filming ;-)

[@robinwells8879]

Bloody hell! I never knew it was Ridley Scott. Makes sense! Talent will out. I’m old enough by the way. Hello Mrs Jon! You must be a proud Mum. ❤

[@colinmccormack1728]

Chapeau to the wee lad going DOWN that hill on a bone shaker with dodgy old-school brakes. He has bigger (and sorer) balls than Ripley.

[@gaillaffer7579]

1973!!! I’m old. Remember that like yesterday.

[@krisgair5863]

I recognised the street from the advert from the thumbnail, cant belive it was directed by ridley Scott 😮

[@andrewwww7684]

Great video as always Jon, being 56 I remember this ad well and I live in the North East in Stockton on Tees, my secondary school The Grange its claim to fame was Tony and Ridley Scott wer'e both ex pupils.

[@bungle321]

I can't get enough of this channel, I've searched for similar content but nothing compares to you Jon... Peace and love brother

[@AutoShenanigans]

Nice one, Thanks for watching!

[@Adam88Robinson]

This was a great one today John.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Nice one, Thanks for watching!

[@MiaMantri]

I remember hearing a Hovis Advert was filmed in Halifax so I googled it and there was one filmed there in 2015.

[@TerryMurrayTalks]

Nice one, a kind of, off road nostalgic Shenanigans. More like this please.

[@stuinNorway]

Having a local hill of 21-22% (depenind how you measure it) I can A: Understand him walking his bike up there, even with a modern bike, 30 gears, on the granny ring I can get up, but the front wheel feels VERY VERY light. and B: Hats off to the wee lad for going DOWN legs out, that grade downhill, even without the cobbles can be a scary experience. Another cracking episode.... Why do i fancy a slice of bread now ?

[@nathanielcleland6566]

I've gone up it, it's not too hard as it's a sprint. The only time I failed was when the chain snapped! I've never dared descend it, though.

[@lm971120]

I was expecting a drone footage of Jon pushing his Saab up the hill at the end🤣

[@AutoShenanigans]

The Saab would need no assistance being a superior automobile.

[@lextex3280]

Being in my 50s I remember the Hovis add when it was first aired. I vaguely remember the other add too. Ronnie Bakers Hovis add was awesome though.

[@grahampearce2405]

He also did the infamous 1984 advert for Apple.

[@paulm7826]

Excellent video, Jon. And I also just sent some pounds sterling your way via PayPal to buy you (a few more) coffees. Thanks for all your hard work on your videos and your dry humour, which I always enjoy. Best wishes from Australia. PM

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks a lot mate, most kind of you!

[@paulm7826]

My pleasure, Jon! And I'm now enjoying your new series on A roads.

[@stephenpark8133]

Ridley Scott also did an Advert about Long Life Beer in a Can.

[@barukkazhad8998]

Walking down that hill while on the lash is fun....going back up takes ages

[@gordonmcmillan4709]

You can see the fog in the background of the original advert that almost snookered the filming. Seeing the distant countryside in the modern shots you can see why it would have looked great in the original too.

[@londongaz2]

My mum used to live down the bottom of that hill. Bloody steep it is too. Great pub down at the bottom.

[@nigelcarren]

"Church stuff" had just the right tone! 😁👍🇬🇧

[@joules2936]

Comedy horror chance missed there! After the timeless television commentary at the end, you should have thrown in a brief clip of the chest burster alien scene.