Hovis boy rides up that hill at last... with his electric bike
STRUGGLING to push his bicycle up a steep hill earned the Hovis delivery boy a place in TV history.
Now the child actor who starred in the iconic bread advert has conquered the cobbled slope – with the help of an electric bike.
Carl Barlow, 58, wore a flat cap and apron for the 1973 commercial at the age of 13.
The narrator famously said: “Last up on round was Old Ma Peggotty’s house, it was like taking bread to the top of the world. “It was a grand ride back though.” The advert, set to a brass band version of Dvorak’s New World symphony, depicted a northern industrial town but was shot on Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset.
Carl, a retired firefighter, returned to “Hovis Hill” to peddle up it non-stop using an electric bike.
Donning a flat cap similar to the one he wore as a youngster, Carl even carried a basket of bread as he powered up the notoriously steep incline with ease, leaving normal cyclists in his wake.
Afterwards Carl, from Stratford, east Carl as the Hovis boy straining up the hill in 1973. Right, with his electric bike London, said: “It was kind of strange being back after 44 years. There were a few people taking photos and I could hear people saying, ‘That was the advert where the boy pushed the bike all the way up the hill’ – little knowing they were stood next to me.
“I remember I had to push the bike up the hill many times for the best part of the two days filming on Gold Hill.
“It was much easier this time around. I just glided up the hill.”
The Hovis advert was filmed by director Sir Ridley Scott who went on make Alien and Gladiator. It has been voted the nation’s favourite TV ad of all time.
Bike seller Evans Cycles reprised the memorable scene to promote electric bikes which it says can save commuters an average £7,791 in five years.