25 coffees no worse than a single cup
Digitally re-mastered Hovis ad is back on box after 46 years
REFILL Drinkers get boost DRINKING 25 cups of coffee a day is no worse for health than drinking just one, research suggests.
Past studies indicated that coffee stiffens arteries, increasing the chance of a heart attack or stroke.
However a new study of more than 8,000 people across the UK, conducted by Queen Mary University of London, found drinking multiple cups did not raise the health risk.
All participants had MRI heart scans and infrared pulse wave tests, and the results held true even after factors such as age, weight and smoking status were taken into account.
The university’s Dr Kenneth Fung said: “Our research indicates that coffee isn’t as bad for the arteries as previous studies would suggest.”
THE classic Hovis Boy on the Bike advert is making a comeback, 46 years after it first aired.
The 1973 commercial showed a boy pushing a bicycle with a basket of bread up a steep hill, then freewheeling back down.
The ad was voted the most iconic and heart-warming of alltime in a survey this year. It has now been digitally re-mastered, and will debut tonight on ITV and air throughout June.
A new version of Dvorak’s New World Symphony, the music that accompanies the ad, has been recorded, by a new generation of the Ashington Colliery brass band, which recorded the original tune. The ad was re-mastered by the British Film Institute’s National Archive.
Sir Ridley Scott directed it first time around and it helped launch his career. He went on to direct a series of big-screen blockbusters, including Blade Runner, Gladiator and Alien. The Hovis advert was filmed on Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset, which has since become a tourist attraction. Sir Ridley said: “I’m thrilled that the Boy on the Bike, 46 years on, is still regarded as such an iconic and heartwarming story which remains close to the heart of the nation.
“I remember the filming process like it was yesterday and its success represents the power of the advert.”
Carl Barlow, then aged 13, played the boy on the bike. He said: “This advert and Hovis have been such a huge part of my life and I am delighted it is coming back to the small screen.”
Mr Barlow, from East London, went to stage school but eventually gave up acting and joined the London Fire Brigade, where he worked for 30 years until he retired in 2012.
In 2017, Mr Barlow returned to Gold Hill to pedal up it non-stop using an electric bike. Wearing a flat cap and an outfit similar to the one he sported in 1973, Mr Barlow took a basket of bread with him as he powered up the famous hill. SIR RIDLEY SCOTT ON BOY ON THE BIKE HOVIS COMMERCIAL Carl visits in 2017
I’m thrilled that the ad is still iconic and remains close to the heart of the nation