Page 6 | Please help me identify this actor before I go mad.

Hugoslavia · 2021-06-30T19:22:00+00:00

English. Grey slightly wavy hair. Unsure of current age, but he has to be 70s. In my mind he was on TV about 20 years ago and had grey hair then. TV actor. Played a part in a TV comedy. Wore a grey suit. Charismatic. He played a politician, I think, or a similar role where he had to report to someone. He wasn't in Yes Minister though, which was my first thought. I can picture him so clearly! But I have no idea from where!

OrrisRoot · 01/07/2021 07:41

Well I didn’t know. I was about 13. All seemed a bit tragic to me. Now you mention it, though I think I remember Mellow Birds being around when I was a preschooler in the 70s and that was powdery, wasn’t it!?

OrrisRoot · 01/07/2021 07:43

Nestle I don’t remember hearing about until I was pregnant. So a bit of a time lag. I don’t know if that’s because I was entering baby land or whether it was current, though.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 01/07/2021 07:58

That's the stuff, Orris. I strongly suspect instant coffee tastes the same whether it's in powder form or granules, but granules were marketed as a distinct step up in poshness when they were first around.

When I was growing up in the 60s and 70s, there were some who still used Camp Coffee, which was a strong coffee essence that came in a bottle and tasted absolutely disgusting. It may have had chicory added to make it cheaper (and even more disgusting). You diluted it with boiling water or boiled milk (the latter just putting the tin lid of disgustingness on the so called coffee).

No wonder we were a nation of tea drinkers!

Terhou · 01/07/2021 08:03

We used to have Camp Coffee in cold milk as a substitute for iced coffee/coffee milk shake. It was actually much nicer that way than hot.

Terhou · 01/07/2021 08:05

@OrrisRoot

He gets around. I wonder if he has a squad of decoy lookalikes?

Love the thought of a squad of AH lookalikes wandering around being lovely to strangers. If I can't have the original, could I have one of the squad?

CounsellorTroi · 01/07/2021 08:09

Camp coffee has sugar in it. I don’t take sugar in coffee so it tastes vile to me.

OrrisRoot · 01/07/2021 08:11

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

That's the stuff, Orris. I strongly suspect instant coffee tastes the same whether it's in powder form or granules, but granules were marketed as a distinct step up in poshness when they were first around.

When I was growing up in the 60s and 70s, there were some who still used Camp Coffee, which was a strong coffee essence that came in a bottle and tasted absolutely disgusting. It may have had chicory added to make it cheaper (and even more disgusting). You diluted it with boiling water or boiled milk (the latter just putting the tin lid of disgustingness on the so called coffee).

No wonder we were a nation of tea drinkers!

Yes, I remember my parents buying camp coffee for nostalgia value circa 1990, drinking half a cup and chucking it. I wandered in and thought they were diluting syrup of figs with boiling water as some kind of bovril alternative. The bottle looked the same. They tried explaining chicory to me but I thought they’d gone mental, TBH. I mean, they had.

I think coffee granules v powder must be like the various attempts to reinvent the shape of teabags. Those came when I was a bit older.

Love the thought of a squad of AH lookalikes wandering around being lovely to strangers. If I can't have the original, could I have one of the squad?

Well something is up. Every second person I meet IRL seems to have encountered him too. It’s not just on MN. We will try and get you one.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 01/07/2021 08:11

I don't think it used to, CounsellorTroi, but it's so long since the one and only time I tried it I can't be sure. I loathe sugar in coffee but the loathing I felt for Camp Coffee was of a different order.

CounsellorTroi · 01/07/2021 08:18

My mum had a coffee percolator when I was growing up in the 60s/70s. A sort of jug with a lid and a container inside for the coffee. You filled it with water and put it on the stove. The lid had a sort of glass thing so you could see when the coffee was done by the colour of it bubbling up. This thing was only brought out on special occasions. We drank tea most of the time.

VioletCharlotte · 01/07/2021 08:19

You can still buy Camp Coffee, I use it for making coffee and walnut cake.

Nescafé Gold Blend did seem like the ultimate in sophistication in the 80's!

OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow · 01/07/2021 08:24

Why was Nescafe ad so popular? It was like a mini soap opera in the ad break.
And not forgetting the everyso slightly creepy Nicole et Papa. They loved a mini soap in the 90s.
I have never met Antony Head. If he’d care to rectify this I can give him a list of charming destinations where he can be lovely.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 01/07/2021 08:29

Back in 1978 or 9, I remember making a batch of fairy cakes which I thought I could flavour with coffee, so I stirred in a spoonful of coffee granules (we'd gone posh). They didn't dissolve as I'd expected they would so the cakes were a bit crunchy. Quite pleasant tasting, but unexpected.

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 01/07/2021 08:31

Just checking in to report that yes, I've met him and yes, he's lovely. I took my mum to the theatre to see him for her birthday and we went and hung around at the stage door afterwards to get our programmes signed. Told him it was her birthday and he gave her a kiss on the cheek; I jokingly protested jealously and got one too 😁

OrrisRoot · 01/07/2021 08:31

Original poster

Hugoslavia · 01/07/2021 09:25

Right then....a coach trip to Bradford it is then!

OP posts:

Original poster

Hugoslavia · 01/07/2021 09:32

My mum used to fancy him in the coffee adverts. She used to say that she liked her coffee like her men....rich and full bodied. To which I would reply , 'wot and instant?!!'

OP posts:

Original poster

Hugoslavia · 01/07/2021 09:39

@OrrisRoot

He is an exact clone to someone I once knew. Hence why it was bugging me. I feel sorry for anyone who accidentally met his clone. Especially if he kissed them on the cheek.

OP posts:

Scootagal · 01/07/2021 17:38

@hugoslavia dammit! I wish I'd seen this sooner - I asked exactly the same question in Facebook group a month or so ago - as a man came into my shop who looked like him and I couldn't remember his name! 😆

CaveMum · 01/07/2021 17:53

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

He was marvellous in Cabin Pressure on Radio 4. It was a red letter day when he turned up in The Archers but sadly he hasn't become a regular.

Why was Nescafe ad so popular? It was like a mini soap opera in the ad break. Also, far more people watched ITV then. No internet, Sky, Netflix, digital channels etc. BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4, or you made your own entertainment.

Cabin Pressure is a work of genius, and AT as “Herc” was inspired.

I’m thrilled to see that John Finnemore has been brought in by Neil Gaiman to help write the new Good Omens series.

glammymommy · 01/07/2021 18:09

Colin Jeavons? He was in House of Cards, also Inspector Lestrade

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 01/07/2021 18:10

Yup, very very excited about that! (Started a thread on it in Telly Addicts)

Nocutenamesleft · 01/07/2021 18:11

Charles dance?

He came to my house once. To film a scene for a tv show.

purplebunny2012 · 01/07/2021 18:18

Coffee ad guy is Anthony Head, not Nigel Havers

D0D0 · 01/07/2021 18:28

🙋🏻‍♀️

I’ve met ASH on an EasyJet flight to Dublin of all places. We both had speedy boarding and sat opposite each other in the front row.

I quizzed him on David Boreanaz. Probably not my finest hour.

Can confirm, indeed, he is lovely. Even to fans of people who aren’t him 😅

purplebunny2012 · 01/07/2021 18:28

@Hugoslavia

You are amazing!! It was Anthony Head!!! And I must have been thinking of him in Little Britain!! Thank you!! I will be able to sleep tonight!!

60s not 70s