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Stories from GG’s Toy Box
By Grahame Grassby
Story 4 — “…And What Do You Do?”
A Licensing Presentation Goes Off The Tracks
In 1994 at the London Licensing Show held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, Britt Allcroft, the producer of the Thomas the Tank Engine TV series, was launching her new TV series the Magic Adventures of Mumfie.
Britt’s previous TV series, Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, was a huge global hit so there was a lot of interest in her next TV show.
The Australian Licensing Agent for Britt Allcroft Productions, Fred Gaffney, had organised for Britt to present Mumfie to potential ANZ licensees who had gathered at the designated time in front of The Britt Allcroft Company stand awaiting her presentation.
Unfortunately there was a breakdown in communications between The Britt Allcroft Company and Gaffney International Licensing. Neither company had arranged for a venue or audio-visual equipment for Britt’s presentation, which was going to be a problem as Britt Allcroft was not known for her good humour when untoward things like this happened.
To solve the problem and on the spot, Fred Gaffney decided to hold the presentation at his hotel instead of at the Royal Lancaster Hotel and advised the gathered group of around twenty people to make a 15-minute walk down Bayswater Road to the White’s Hotel.
The group set off on foot for White’s Hotel, including a none-too-happy Britt Allcroft, and on the way, Peter Sitch from Bonds Underwear Australia casually turned to Britt and asked “Hi I’m Peter from Bonds Underwear and what do you do?
And then it went from bad to worse…
At White’s Hotel, the Gaffney staff were advised that the only video cassette player in the hotel was already lent out to another guest; however, with his power of persuasion and I suspect a sizable back-hander to the concierge, Fred Gaffney convinced hotel management to give him access to the room of the guest with the video player, to hold the Mumfie presentation.
So there we all were, in another guest’s hotel room, with that guest’s stuff spread all around, and finally when the Gaffney girls managed to get the video player to play, it starts showing a porno video that the guest must have been watching.
Take it away Britt — the floor is all yours… Tell us all about Britt Allcroft’s Magic Adventures of Mumfie!
Written by Grahame Grassby
