This radio advertisement was inspired by a story from my mother.

When she was a young mother, she took her little sister and her toddler on a trip into town by train. On her lap my mother carried the infant, who was chatting quite frankly to a man across the aisle, who – she had suddenly realized – was her former high school teacher. At some point the girl stared at the teacher, in amazement, and asked him about his big gob. On which the elder child corrected her impoliteness, saying, ‘no, you can’t say that, that’s very rude, you should say large head’… My mum, on a train and nowhere to escape. Mortified.

Children’s expressions have always been an inspiration for jokes.

Working at cdp-travissully in London, we had to write a radio ad for Hamlet cigars. Their slogan was ‘Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet’. Their ads always showed slices of life, going wrong. But all would go swell again once a Hamlet cigar was light, a match strike announcing happiness. {Or rather instant memory loss  😉 }

It was one of the very last radio ads for Hamlet cigars, long after the ban on television advertising for tobacco. It was rewarded with an Aerial Award, celebrating The Best of British Radio Advertising. 

Here’s one of their tv commercials, which became a classic British television moment.