h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Okay, here's what I remember... Buzby appeared in a series of TV commercials in the late '70s/early '80s. I'm fairly sure Bernard Cribbens did Buzby's voice, and I also have strange memories of a series of children's books, in a kind of Mr Men format. I'll let you know if I have any more of these flashbacks!

I tried to find a web site for this and humphreys but had no luck - any suggestions?

I suggest you stop that right away.

Stop what?

Searching the web for buzbys and humphreys.
It shouldn't be allowed.

Are you not a buzby or a humphrey fan?

Check usenet under alt.buzby.will.someone.for.gods.sake.strangle.that.bloody.bird

(actually I made that up )

No!!!!

Adopting my universal policy of *always* replying to anyhting posted exactly 42 minutes ago (for obvious reasons) I hereby reply. Since I can't think of anything to say, perhaps I'll hazard a Limerick.

Buzby, that scrofulous bird,
Was employed to deliver the word
Of the happy consumer
But they soon scothced that rumour
And the profits went up by a third

!OMG! so other people do remember those adverts? MY dad also works for BT and I have hundreds of Buzby things including lots of pics of him shaking hands with buzby at various places. Weird.

OH I forgot to say this before but I bet you didn't know that the Buzby adverts were translated into about 8 languages nad shown in hundreds of countries across the globe, with the relevent countries main telephone companies logo being used.

So why did they get rid of him? I don't even know what bt adverts are nowadays they are so bland.

I think the problem was that things were starting to move on, I think they wanted a bit more of a modern image. If I remember rightly the Buzby ads were 'fazed' out only shortly before they changed there logo and name to BT with the piper logo instead of British Telecommunications with the T in the yellow circle logo.

That's an easy one. BT adverts are about how much cheaper BT discount schemes are. The crucial thing is never to tell you "cheaper than what?" since the only thing more expensive than BT discount schemes is BT non-discounted calls. They also like to tell you how many people have rejoined BT after leaving, also crucially without mentioning that this is *always* less than the numbers leaving due to continual overcharging and billing problems.

Well hate to break your heart but for your information BT has never lost a single customer. Since it went private about 15 years ago its number of customers has gone up every year so they maybe losing out to other companies, but they still get more people sign up with them every year than any other phone company in Britain.
---
Jaz

oh and if the other companies are so good how come my mate got billed by one of them in Dutch guilders? (spelling?) that is not something BT are very likely to do.

And if BT are so good how come they are more expensive than anyone else? Come to think of it, what makes you think I give a toss about how many subscribers BT has (and I am also a BT subscriber)? It doesn't stop me fro being irritated by BTs adverts saying how much "cheaper" friends & family is, when the only thing which is more expensive is BTs regular tariff. I can make absolutely any call cheaper using Mercury with the exception of Internet access, which is on 0800 anyway.