O'Connor's Revenge

A tribute to the late, varnished Des O'Connor - was he the last of the light entertainment all-rounders? They sang, they danced, they did stand-up and/or magic, they presented variety programmes, they fronted gameshows, they Chatted, they hosted everything short of Panorama. Bruce is gone, The Wogan is gone, Monkhouse is long gone, even Paul Daniels is dead. Barrymore's still alive but his career is not. I suppose there's still Tarbuck and Davidson. Terrific.
Anyway these are two adverts for Castella Classic cigars from the very last days of televised tobacco advertising of any sort. Castella Classic (whose gimmick was that they were quite big) went out with a reasonably amusing campaign starring Russ Abbot, constantly one-upping this ugly bloke in some fashion. In the first, which I've uploaded before, he catches a load of fish with the help of Des' singing career.
The first time I uploaded it, I pointed out that Russ was in something of a glass house. He could just as easily have used Atmosphere or All Night Holiday. And sure enough, the next (and quite possibly the last, since it's getting on for 1991 by now) in the series had Des get his own back in a clay pigeon shooting scenario. Proving that the both of them were perfectly good sports. Des was still mostly white in those days, you'll notice.

[@vortexspinner4470]

Des's revenge on Russ. What a Classic. 😉 They can't make them like this anymore.

[@paulwilliams2593]

RIP Des O Connor

[@geoffreyjonathanwilson9932]

Two legends 🙂

[@lordmfitzgerald3rd754]

I wanna go back to this era so badly!!!!

[@strongcoffee7]

Des O'connor what a legend

[@victoriaharbach5968]

rip des o connor 1932 - 2020

[@neilcarroll4579]

I love that when you see Des from behind it's obviously a stand In with a bad wig

[@rimmersgirl81]

God rest des o connor’s soul!!!!! 😢😢😢😢😢

[@josephd.2725]

Good memories. Funniest ads! lol

[@TheMerlin672]

I hadn't seen this one, but I do remember the sidecar one. Brilliant...

[@onlyme219]

Loved the end, I'd forgotten:)

[@COIcultist]

Was going to say I didn't remember Sir Terry (basically a DJ who spun out his presenting skills) doing song and dance. Well still no dance but then I remembered The Floral Dance. Lordy that has ruined my sleep for a few months. Des appeared to be that guy who had a portrait of himself set to one side but then in 2007 at the age of 75 he had a son. I don't know if they removed his bone marrow to help fertilize the egg, but he suddenly aged twenty plus years in his looks. Great entertainer though who would readily self deprecate not like some modern precious luvvie.

[@DanceySteveYNWA]

?

[@train4905]

Brilliant

[@anthonyperkins7556]

I would've given Willie Ross a Castella Classic to puff on in both ads so he can enjoy one too.

[@robertmarriott1878]

Classic lol

[@djpaul146]

The drunken man from Rita sue and Bob 2

[@garethhanford6383]

Sue's father!!!

[@billhedley3540]

His name was William Watson stage name Willie Ross came from Newton Aycliffe Co. Durham. No longer with us i am proud to say he was my uncle.

[@koleberdinoch926]

For the life of me I can't find this 'remember romance' song anywhere

[@applemask]

You're not missing anything

[@christopherdrennan5819]

What was the album that Russ took out?

[@applemask]

I don't think it was a real one, just a mockup they made as a prop. You can look on discogs.com if you like.

[@shape-shiftingcatandhermin2508]

😂😂😂😍💝

[@billhedley3540]

My uncle was the other shooter lol did a few of these with Russ met him what a gent