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National Bus Company
Chris Hough enquires whether anyone remembers "an advert for the NBC in the late sixties when the poppy red and leaf green liveries were introduced? It featured one bus from each constituent company and included such gems as West Yorkshire Bristol FS Lodekkas and the slogan 'Together we can really go places'."Kim Rennie adds "This was in the early/mid-1970s (after all the corporate livery was only devised circa 1972). I believe one of London Country's SM-class single deckers was specially delivered in NBC green to appear in this, unlike the rest of the batch which were dark green with yellow waistbands. The location was almost certainly an airfield or possibly some sort of vehicle testing site." any more information?
National Health Service - If You Knew About 'Flu You'd Get the Jab
An odd ad - an elderly man sits downstairs on an AEC Routemaster.
National Lottery
An advert for a daily version of the UK National Lottery features Delaine, Bourne 136 (AD03OCT) driving through a puddle next to a bus stop.This photograph shows 136 (left) at Showbus 2003 at Duxford.
A hapless young lady goes through several misadventures before being splashed by a passing bus. Ian Hardie identifies the Dennis Dart as K831OKH of Imperial of Essex, new as London Buses DRL31; Steve Bunce saw the advert being filmed in Uxbridge in West London: "The street is Old Windsor Street, no buses run on this road and the bus is not a local one. Behind the church at the top of the shot is Uxbridge Underground Station with access for emergency vehicles only to the Bus Station."
Nationwide Building Society
Spotted by Paul Jones: London Transport Metrobus/MCW M324 (EYE324V), "which appeared in a advert for Nationwide Building Society a few years ago. The advert was promoting wearing your football shirt to work for charity. It featured a group of bus passengers waiting at a shop all wearing Arsenal shirts and then the bus (M324) comes along but doesn't stop. It then shows a Spurs fan driving the bus laughing to himself." [for the benefit of overseas readers, in fact anyone outside North London, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are rival Association Football clubs] "The ad also appeared in the BBC1 show 'Ruby Wax's Commercial Breakdown' which features funny TV ads from across the world."Nat West Bank
Features a London Metrobus, possibly privately-owned M443 (suggested by Keith Nason on the LondonBus discussion group)Next
A Christmas 2007 advert features an AEC Routemaster RML with 'City Centre' and route 25 on the front. It has Edinburgh destinations along its side.
Nike
Run London:Black and white advert features a cartoon runner and an open top AEC Routemaster.
An October 2002 advert features a dark blue transit bus, a grey coach and a maroon coach carrying Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson and three Manchester United players. It's unclear where the advert was shot.
Play:
A basketball player gets off an LA Metro transit bus.
Tag:
A young man runs and fails to catch a New York Fishbowl.
Shox:
The tale of a man chasing a runaway hotdog stand features several trams, a yellow transit bus and a pack of barking dogs - country unknown. Adrian Badaraco notes these are Carris vehicles, and the location is Lisbon in Portugal.
Nissan X-Trail
Urban marathon race somewhere in the world (Brazil?) in which the runners are following the Nissan 4 x 4 X-Trail through increasingly difficult terrain. In one scene a blue transit bus passes overhead on a bridge. (thanks Stephen Osman)Night Nurse
Various parts of an AEC Routemaster are seen at night in the rain.Nokia
In a glimpse of the future, a young woman scares herself silly watching a horror film on her mobile 'phone sitting on a Parisian Saviem singledecker, fleet number 5833. The film is 'Black Sabbath', made by by cult Italian horror director Mario Bava in 1963.Norwich Union
Chris Hough notes Norwich Union's latest campaign for personal insurance cover features occasional East Ender Ross Kemp almost mown down by a passing bus, a Dennis Dart/Plaxton of Imperial. It appears to be the one previously used in the National Lottery advert filmed in Uxbridge.Nuts
In February 2004 this newly launched lads' magazine was being promoted on television. One ad featured an article on Australian motorcycle jumper Lawrence Legend, showing him jumping over a line of motorcycles using a Sydney double decker bus, probably an AEC Regent, althought it would be good to get confirmation![O]
Ozone Alert
"Here in Rhode Island, USA, our Channel 12, a CBS affiliate WPRI, has an Ozone Alert commercial, filmed using a RIPTA (Rhode Island Transit Authority) Nova RTS 9849, and the WPRI team of weathermen!! It is also in a second ad, encouraging people to leave the car at home, and take the bus! The bus is seen side on coming out of the type of garage you would have at home!! " (thanks Geoff Cook)[P]
Panasonic eWear
Bizarre Panasonic Europe ad has a woman poledancing to her eWear music player - then she's interrupted by the bus conductor; the pole is on the rear platform of a Routemaster
Party in the Park
The advertising for this 2002 London event shown on Channel 5 featured a London General RML-class AEC Routemaster/Park Royal. (thanks Stephen Osman)Pelican Crossing
1976 UK Public Information Film features a Duple Viceroy-bodied coach in the background. (thanks Bob Wingrove)Peugeot
A 1999 car ad features (briefly) a Dolgellau-based Arriva Cymru minibus. (thanks Gwyn Griffiths)Pickpockets
1975 UK Public Information Film: London Transport Routemasters and a DMS Daimler Fleetline seen in Piccadilly (thanks Bob Wingrove)Pimms
A 2007 ad shows an open top AEC Routemaster travelling round London; various other London buses are also glimpsed
Pizza Hut
A summer 2004 advert features a passing DN-class Dennis Dart of Sullivan Buses. The bus is seen blowing a paper sign onto a neighbours house. (thanks Dean Sullivan)Play Safe - Kites and Planes
1977 UK Public Information Film features a BEA deck and a half AEC Regal RF coach:
Plumrose
"A late 1970s television advert for Plumrose hotdog sausages featured an ex-London Country Guy Special/Eastern Coachworks, still in green livery. There were interior and exterior shots." (thanks Alan Sinclair) Glen Bubb identifies this as GS34 (MXX334)Powerade
"School Bus" - shows a basketball team psyching themselves up on a school bus going to the game.PPPPick up a Penguin
Scot Fergie discovers a curious advert: "Just been watching out of the corner of my eye, 'Never Had it so Good' - a Matthew Kelly-fronted nostalgia quiz show: as one of the questions they showed an old 'PPP-Pick up a Penguin' ad, which featured a flock of (real) penguins boarding what was undoubtedly an Edinburgh Corporation/Lothian Region Seddon Pennine IV/236 - white uppers and madder skirt.A shot near the end reveals the first letter of the number plate as 'B' - from the BWS 102-105L batch from 1973. Also on the shot of the rear end can be seen a rear ad which starts with the letters 'Sco..'((Scotland/Scottish...)?
A side shot of the bus pulling up was judiciously edited just as the ECT or LRT crest would have come into shot. The background architecture of the ad looks nothing like Edinburgh though - it looks like a row of inter-war English terraces! Was the ad maybe made in Manchester when one of these vehicles were on loan to GMT? The year being discussed may have been 1978, which would make it bit late for the loans. Maybe it was shot in 1973/4 and still being shown in 1978? Too many questions, no answers." However - Scot further comments: "On second thoughts - Edinburgh Zoo has a big penguin colony, whereas I think Manchester has none? It's the buildings in the background that throw me. Ravelston Dykes or thereabouts?" Somebody please help!
(Public Information Film)
A public information film advising motorists to lock their cars when leaving them shows a thief being chased down a busy London street. He takes advantage of the open rear platform of a moving Sullivan Buses AEC Routemaster RM1069 (69CLT) blinded for route 8 to make his getaway.[Q]
Quaker Oats
One of a series of ads preceding the weather slot on the GMTV breakfast show during winter 2002/2003 features a London AEC Routemaster on service 6 in heavy rain.Quavers
A 1995 ad showed young people eating Quavers on the upper deck of a London Transport AEC Routemaster.[R]
ReadyBrek
Chris Hough notes a 2002 advert for Readybrek breakfast cereal featuring a green/cream single decker, possibly from Newport or Blackburn?Renault Megane
Ad for the car that reinvented the Ford Anglia has brief footage aboard an unidentified transit bus; it's not clear where this was shot.Right Guard
Deodorant advert from circa 1989 has a man standing downstairs on a London Transport RT family bus and extending an arm to press the bellpush. Three lady singers sniff his armpit!Rimmel
A TV ad features a London Transport AEC Routemaster with a Rimmel advert on the side.Rogers Video Stores
(updated information)"Speed" - this spoof on the film has a woman hurling herself onto the verge from a passing GM New Look to return her rented videotape.
The vehicle is Oakville Transit 8134, a 1981 T6H-5307N GM New Look in a 1970s Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority livery.
Running for a Bus !969
1967 UK Public Information Film: a woman runs to get on London Transport AEC Routemaster RML2437 (JJD437D) and ends up under a car.
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Sainsburys
In one entry in a long series of ads celebrity chef Jamie Oliver rides with his gran downstairs on a London Transport AEC Routemaster.In another Oliver steps off a London Transport AEC Routemaster talking on a mobile 'phone.
Sam - Ice Cream Van
1966 UK Public Information Film filmed in Chelsea features unidentified London Transport RTs. (thanks Bob Wingrove)Sci Fi Channel UK
Trailer for a 2002 convention features several London buses, including two Routemasters and a Metrobus.Seat Arosa
"The end scene of this ad shows a European city bus" (thanks Stephen Osman)Sky Digital
Vinnie Jones is the cab driver, Helen Baxendale is the fare; a London Transport AEC Routemaster is glimpsed outside.Sky Digital ringtones
A young man boards (and gets off) a London M-class MCW Metrobus.Sky Sports - League Cup Final 2003
"A recent ad on Sky for the League Cup Final coverage featured background shots of what appeared to be Oxford Road Manchester with a Magic Bus vehicle and a Stagecoach low floor Alexander bodied 'decker." (thanks Chris Hough)Smirnoff - Lyriquid Perfection
One of several 2003 Christmas adverts opens with a Stagecoach double decker passing the camera.Somerfield Megadeals
"A woman at a bus stop is passed by a red Routemaster with London Transport names after which she has suddenly gained several bags of shopping and starts to laugh." (thanks Stephen Osman)Sony Cybershot
Digital camera advert has a bus passenger taking photographs of a woman drinking bottled water on the street. The sprinkler behind her head makes it appear that she is leaking! (thanks Stephen Osman)Specsavers
A red Leyland Atlantean(?) with Far Eastern specification windscreen computer generated?Splink
1976 UK Public Information Film features an unidentified Bedford VAM/Plaxton in green and cream livery. (thanks Bob Wingrove)
Staffordshire University
"Greater Manchester Transport Leyland Atlantean 8765 (A765 NNA) featured briefly
in an advert for Staffordshire University shown in the Granada TV region during 2005.
It carried the 'tomato soup' livery of its final operators First Manchester, but by this time was owned by the SELNEC Preservation Society." (reported separately by Anthony and Noel Baxendale)
Stagecoach
A 2007 TV ad on Channel M features two talking Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 double deckers:
Stored for the Duration
A short public information film about putting your car back on the road after the Second World War features two London Transport Daimler CWA6 and a tram:
Supersafe with SuperTed
A 1970s road safety advert featuring cartoon hero SuperTed, and still listed as available by the DTLR website."It was set outside Cardiff Castle on Castle Street with children crossing behind a bus. The bus in question was a 1966 Alexander bodied Guy Arab V." (thanks Roger Holmes).
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Talk Talk
Sponsor's ads between segments of Big Brother 5 on Channel 4 featured a Bova Futura coach 'touring the country', but never seen from the front! (thanks Stephen Osman)Teletext Holidays
Noted almost simultaneously by myself and Graeme Selway: one of the adverts in a 2003 campaign features an unidentifiable blue Plaxton Elite-bodied coach.Tesco
Tesco Visa CardOne of a series of Tesco advertisements starring Prunella Scales and Jane Horrocks shows a coach trip to a stately home. The coach is two-tone blue but not shown clearly. any more information?
Hairbrush Divas
This ad for a compilation music CD features a woman singing on the upper deck of a London Metrobus.
Sullivan Buses DT4 (G504VYE, Dennis Dart/Duple Dartline) features briefly in a 2004 ad in the long-running series with Prunella Scales. (thanks Dean Sullivan)
Tescocompare.com: a 2008 ad featuring diminutive magician Paul Daniels also features Sullivan Buses VPL174 (X157JOP), a Plaxton President-bodied Volvo B7TL. (Thanks Dean Sullivan)
Tetrapak
A 2003 advert shows trees growing around and through a London MCW Metrobus!Tic Tac
A 2006 ad features a man being helped by his Tic Tac sweets to catch a bus: a fleetname-free ex-London Transport Routemaster RML2487 (JJD487D)
Tim Hortons
An advert for this Canadian coffee shop chain features interior and exterior shots of Oakville Transit 724, a 1972 GM T6H-5306 New Look, seen here in an all-blue version of Oakville's standard livery.
T-Mobile - MixIt
Mobile 'phone advert featuring a green and cream MCW Metrobus and two green AEC Routemasters.topjobs.com
Set in London; a Metroline doubledecker is glimpsed.Tranzit Coachlines/Ritchies Transport
In 2002 New Zealand operators Tranzit Coachlines and Ritchies Transport Holdings advertised their combined Intercity bus services on television. The ad features an unidentified Volvo B12/Designline touring the country with smiling and singing passengers. (thanks Bryce Pender)Turning Right
1965 UK Public Information Film has glimpses of London Transport RMs and RTs (thanks Bob Wingrove)TV Times
A 1970 television advertisement for a TV Times special magazine featuring the 'On The Buses' TV comedy unexpectedly showed a RED cartoon bus instead of the green one used in the credits for the show itself. Credit to Bob Wingrove for discovering and researching this clip.
Tyne Tees Seatbelt Campaign
1972 UK Public Information Film features many Tyne and Wear PTE Leyland Atlanteans (thanks Bob Wingrove)[U]
UPS
An ad spotted by Carlos Wallberg features 'synchronised' red buses, possibly filmed on Spain?[V]
Vimto
A 2003 advert features a red cartoon double decker bus.Virgin Mobile
A man apparently talking to himself on the upper deck of a London Transport AEC Routemaster is actually using his Virgin cell'phone.Virgin Radio
Features an unidentified London Metrobus.Vodafone
A 2007 ad in Vodafone's 'Make the most of now' campaign features Arriva Dennis Dart with Plaxton Pointer bodies:
VW Beetle
Shot partly in Great Yarmouth, one advert features a Duple Dominant coach of Belle Coaches.[W]
Walkers Crisps
A 2008 entry in the long-running and occasionally amusing strand featuring former footballer Gary Lineker caused offence in some quarters. This pastiche of Cliff Richard's 'Summer Holiday' shows Lineker driving an RML-class AEC Routemaster (with the handbrake still on). While he's enjoying a packet of Walkers crisps he inadvertently deroofs the bus under a low bridge. The resulting outrage led to Walkers apologising and recutting the advert. In the original version, the registration plate is not seen in its entirety; in slow motion it can be seen that the window pillars upstairs were deliberately weakened to ensure the roof would come off. In the recut version more of the bus is seen, and the registration plate CUV350C (ergo RML2350). Reportedly two buses were used in filming, and one was deroofed.Walking With Beasts
BBC trailer for the series of the same name features interior and exterior views of preserved Blackpool Corporation Leyland Titan PD3/12 518 (HFR518E), supplied by Chepstow Classic Buses. (thanks Andy Richards and Paul Turner).
Water
A 1989 ad for the water companies of England and Wales includes footage of a London Transport MD-class Scania Metropolitan:
Weetabix
A London Transport Leyland Titan TN is seen in the background as a woman parks a Landrover Discovery in an impossibly tight spot.West Midland PTE
Central Television used to carry advertisements for West Midland Passenger Transport Executive, introduced by 'Wumpty', who if I recall correctly was an animated season ticket. ( anyone's memory better than mine?) Meantime, another ad showed travellers using outlandish ways of getting to work, for example a camel, pogo stick, penny-farthing, pedal car......whereas the sensible way to go is with West Midlands Travel:
Wind-eze Gel Caps
Stephen Osman notes: "A woman suffering from indigestion travelling on the lower deck of a London bus has her seat turn into something resembling a cross between an armchair and a beanbag. At the end of the ad the rear of the (same?) bus is shown as it moves away from the camera displaying a super rear advert for the product on a pale blue background." Stephen identifies the bus as Arriva London North DBS14 (R213CKO), a DAF DB250/Northern Counties Palatine 2. The bus is operating on Route 141.Wrigleys Spearmint Gum
1992 ad shown in the UK has an MCI of 'The Westerner' on a cross-country US express service, destination illegible; a young man and a young woman spilt a strip of Wrigleys gum between them (cheapskates)[Y]
Your Seatbelt - Their Safety
Public Information Film made in 1972; features crime-fighting legend Shaw Taylor and Tyne and Wear Leyland Atlanteans:
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Zovirax
"Advert for cold sore cream features a man undertaking his daily activities whilst wearing a Frankenstein's Monster mask. One scene has him travelling on a blue coach." (thanks Stephen Osman)Looking for a specific bus or show? Try the search box