While still at Art College I teamed up with Ian and we started our own printing business in a garage.
There were many talented students at our College and Kevin Coyne was one. Andy Kershaw once described him as "A national treasure who keeps getting better". We printed this Coyne poetry and drawings book way before he rose to international recognition as an artist and accomplished musician.
I found employment as a junior designer in a Nottingham "Advertising Agency" though I found the local hostelries and their history far more interesting. It was here that I first learned the importance of copywriting. Though I mainly worked on trade ads, it came naturally to write the headlines for whatever I visualised.
Within a year, I headed to London and was hired as an Art Director, tripling my previous salary. The photograph taken by Jeanie features me with three colleagues limbering up for the challenge to raise funds for the National Advertising Benevolent Society. We got generous support from the Milk Marketing Board and Noel Edmonds, who personally chauffeured us in his Mini Cooper to the BBC studios for an interview following the long 24-hour stint.
In my fifth year at the Agency my ad for the COI, Nursing Recruitment campaign, won a Design and Art Directors Award. The photograph was taken by Colin Duff. The equally clever headline was written by Peter Roche. The ad was for, what were then described as, Special Hospitals, and preceded Thatcher's closure of these valuable facilities in favour of 'care in the community'.
Here I am with Kathy Evans in Wadi Rum. Arriving in Aqaba after midnight, we missed the warning signs and unwittingly took a dip in the Red Sea. It was her scream that alerted me to the oil slick. She was completely enveloped in the black tar, and fortunately, I was only up to my knees. The local fishermen told us it was a usual occurrence for oil to be released from storage facilities in Eilat when the tidal flow was headed toward Aqaba's beaches. Most probably a lethal contributory cause of her later illness.
Finally, I had to work, so I found employment in a local "Ad Agency" called SNIP. I was hired as their art director /photographer. I was also tasked with building a studio and a dark room. I was given a Hasselblad and Linhoff plate camera (see photo), neither of which I had any idea how to operate. Fortunately, Librarie Antoinne had all the reference books I required. The darkroom and studio project took almost a year to complete, by which time I was seeking pastures new. My only studio photos were my friend's wedding invitation featured here, a Farleys ad and various pack shots for sundry products.
There was a brief interlude during which I was asked to convert the interior of a girlie bar to a pub. Note the guy leaning on the wagon wheel, a feature of the interior design & darts area of the pub. The Lord Kitchener's was launched (see left) and free drinks for the duration. I then teamed up with an English journalist to form a creative consultancy.
Note: The Sam Haskins photograph whose work was featured throughout the pub.
I adapted this Boots brochure to feature an Arab mother and child. It was my first genuine attempt at a professional-level staged live-action photography, all executed in colour, in subdued sunlight on my office balcony.
I produced campaigns and publicity material for several regional airlines.
In this campaign for Kuwait Airways, we were probably the first to use the more modern, angular Koufic Arabic calligraphy for headlines on ads. I also designed and produced an inflight brochure of which no copy exists.
SUN
Effective black and white small space ad campaign for Amstel Beer utilising display typography in the English text and the Arabic. Produced in French, English and Arabic.
I DRINK AMSTEL
Corporate brochure for Lebanese construction company based in Qatar. Using various supplied photographs and one weeks location photography, that included the Chairman's art collection, example illustrated here.
Another prestige corporate brochure for the Juffali Group. Printed in full colour, but unfortunately no colour sample exists. Shot over two weeks on location in Saudi Arabia.
The photo on the left is of Jeddah Port taken at dusk and is bathed in a red sunset, unfortunately this black and white copy does not do it justice.
Possibly the first ever published UAE travel brochure. All photographs supplied. Designed and printed with gate folds and five creases to form the semi-arch on the folded cover.
Left: Campaign for Ligget and Myers cigarettes, featuring another of my photographs.
Right: Campaign for Dar Assayad. Lebanese newspaper publishers.
The months following October were to be the most dangerous, as the civil war intensified central Beirut came under increasing shell fire and various factions began kidnappings and targeted assassinations. The worst fighting was around The Holiday Inn, inconveniently located only yards away from my printers. The one and only time I ran the gauntlet to check a job my taxi refused to go within two hundred yards of the building, it really was too close to call.
I was asked to model for this photo taken by Jeanie. Sadly, days later, Jimi Hendrix passed away. Coincidentally, I also attended his last concert on the Isle of Wight. In the circumstances, the ad was pulled temporarily, and Barry was asked to come up with another headline, but politely declined. It was very shortly after this episode that we both quit the agency.
My first assignment in my fledgling business was this Saudi Airlines' Annual Report, entailing two weeks of location photography, traversing the Kingdom from west to east. It was printed in colour. Ironically, it could be said this project was the launch of my business career in the Middle East, and it was in Saudi Arabia where, with a little help, I ultimately ended my advertising career.
Things couldn't get worse. First, the news that my office assistant had been shot and severely wounded. A few weeks later, in the bar of a Hotel, a friend and I were apprehended by Kalashnikov-wielding men wearing hooded kafir's. We were removed from the premises and forced into a jeep with a manned machine gun mounted at the rear. I was relieved of my passport and a precious gold and silver ring that a silversmith friend had made as a parting gift. We were then driven out of Beirut at speed to eventually be put through a horrifying mock execution exercise, before they left us frozen to the spot, and finally sped away. I decided then it was time to quit Beirut and arranged to collect a new passport from the British Embassy. My business partner lived across the green line, so I informed him of my intentions and left a signed bank cheque for him to countersign to bring funds to London, where I'd thought we could operate for the interim. He brought the cash to London and put it in his personal account. I was left completely penniless and had to rely on friends' generosity. The ad on the left was quite prophetic, as it was the last ad I designed and shot for Middle East Airlines before my own final departure.
PIPE LINES
We designed and wrote a monthly magazine for Dar Assayad publishing group featuring news and gossip from the Lebanese Advertising Souk. This, in some respects, led to my feature article in AdWeek the highly popular precursor to Haymarket's Campaign magazine.
I took a flight to Beirut, Lebanon, with a couple of weeks' wages and a Nikon F camera. The first year I spent getting to know what was then described as 'The Paris of the Middle East'. Enjoying both its nightlife and its more bucolic offerings, I quickly befriended a group of locals and some interesting expatriates working in the fields of journalism and film, as well as some more nefariously engaged individuals. This became more than just an enjoyable pastime, and I travelled the region extensively, getting involved in various escapades. More of which in Adrabia the book.
My creative endeavours began at art college and along with my colleagues I completed the Nottingham to Derby egg and spoon race to promote our student Jazz Ball.
During the summer break I found employment at Butlins Holiday Camp, Skegness. I worked as a kitchen porter during the day, a barman in the evening, and a receptionist at weekends.
My next assignment with Kathy was to Quneitra in Syria to witness the aftermath of Israel's withdrawal from this part of the occupied Golan. After raising the city to the ground, though falsely claiming at the time that it was a result of war damage, John Snow eventually exposed this lie. The photo on the right is IDF graffiti featuring Ian Anderson, Keith Richards, Ginger Baker and Manfred Mann in one of the few buildings left standing. More of which in Adrabia the book.
My London agency career was a slow burner, as for two years, I worked on an uninspiring retail account. On being liberated, my first proper ad featured the lady in the duvet, at a time when blanket bedding was the norm. I was surprised that my risque headline passed the censor test. I have purposely obscured the brand, but they did secure the market with this campaign.
Farley's ad photo
After this somewhat less than salubrious end to my Beirut adventure, I was left with little choice but to resurrect my career by renting desk space in a design studio in Pimlico. This was the beginning of a twelve-year journey that would take me into the heart of the murky Middle East Advertising industry of the late 80s. On the Adrabia link, I cover my creative output before and during my association with some particularly malign individuals. In my book, I will reveal the lies, intrigues, dishonesty, and fraudulent practices involving a UK Home Office official that ultimately helped catapult a particular Lebanese advertising executive to the very top of the MENA Ad industry. The Adrabia page is password-protected, but interested parties can request access by contacting the author.
Contact sheets