1066 and all that
How Guinness celebrated the Battle of Hastings, 900 years after the event.
The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14th October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman Conquest of England.
It remains one of the most famous events (and dates) in English history.
The Battle of Hastings was fought almost 950 years ago, on 14th October 1066. The English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson was defeated by the invading Norman-French army of William ‘the Conqueror’, duke of Normandy.
King Harold is said to have had an arrow in his eye, which would have hurt a bit.
The event was commemorated soon after by the creation of the Bayeux Tapestry.
In 1966, to mark the 900th anniversary of the battle, Guinness released a famous poster with the slogan: “Battle of Hastings 1066, Bottle of Guinness 1966.” The poster, a fun parody of the Bayeux Tapestry, depicted a Norman knight holding a pint of Guinness.
Designed by Stanley Penn, a copywriter at advertising agency S.H.Benson, the poster was intended for use on London Underground trains.
Interestingly, Bensons was a key investor in David Ogilvy’s new New York agency in 1948, which eventually became Ogilvy, Benson & Mather (OBM). The Benson name eventually faded into the larger global Ogilvy brand.
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