"Great helicopter trips of Britain"

[whole diary]

[RichardB]

That's what this lovely BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) advert from 1988 was nicknamed -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsyyJaX0j3Y

We were talking in the office about use of videos to promote rail travel and I mentioned this.  Thanks to the uploader and You Tube, we can still watch it today.

[rogerw]

A lovely production.  Was it just my eyesight or was the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) running wrong line on the Forth bridge?

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks to the uploader and You Tube, we can still watch it today.

Yes, that link still works. 

Was it just my eyesight or was the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) running wrong line on the Forth bridge?

Your eyesight is fine - that HST was running wrong line. See 1:26 minutes into that clip. 

By the way: the above comments from me have been prompted solely by my reviewing this particular topic, as part of my ongoing work on splitting the 'wider picture' board.

[Bmblbzzz]

The most striking thing about that advert, from a 2017 point of view, apart from the fact that it was made at all, is the voice. But I expect that as much as being a 1980s advertising voice, it was a voice deemed appropriate for Betjeman.

[stuving]

The most striking thing about that advert, from a 2017 point of view, apart from the fact that it was made at all, is the voice. But I expect that as much as being a 1980s advertising voice, it was a voice deemed appropriate for Betjeman.

... or Auden! Since the original was spoken as a verse commentary on a film (Night Mail), and John Grierson's voice and very different delivery would have been familiar to quite a few then (1988) or now (2017), the new voice and style were probably chosen to try make a link from then (1935) to now (1988).

[Bmblbzzz]

Umm, yes, not sure why I thought Betjeman.*    Yes, it makes that link and in doing so makes 1988 seem closer in some ways to 1935 than to 2017; which I think it was!

*Edit: Probably because Betjeman is already associated with ye olde steame traines, whereas about Auden I know virtually nothing. So let's have another  .