• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Brucie In A Bottle Bafflement

GNC

King-Sized Canary
Joined
Aug 25, 2001
Messages
33,634
Message in a bottle proves baffling:
News story

Found near Grimsby, the finders opened a German brandy bottle (not a brand from the UK) sealed with wax to see the message was a crude drawing of the late entertainer Sir Bruce Forsyth, accompanied by some of his catchphrases. There is also a line about contacting the artist by letter ONLY - but no address. Was Brucie big in Germany? Why does the sketch look like Toby Jones in Brucie's wig?
 
Doesn't mean it came from Germany of course- could easily just be a souvenir bottle. English as well - I would suggest a little tribute from a Bruce fanboy or girl. The English are a touch eccentric sometimes aren't they?
 
I'm intrigued about the lack of comment on the article regarding two of the numbers on the sketch, or the signature.

2019-04-19 09.08.11.png

"388007" (I think?). Perhaps written in Tippex / white correction fluid. A large number. Suggestive perhaps of a six-digit mobile phone-number, without the carrier/company code prefix? Also maybe has a Leetspeak feel to it (possibly 'Loobbe'?)

2019-04-19 09.09.16.png

"89". Immediately makes me think of 1989. Thirty years ago.

Now- a theory. Could that sketch of a young(?) Bruce Forsyth be what he looked like in 1989? Did he use all his catch-phrases all his life, or did they emerge over time. Might a Sir Bruce expert confirm that there are no post-89 phrases written down (nb sheer speculation, but you take my point)

The condition of the label on that bottle suggests it has >not< been in the water long (and....let me carefully say...almost makes me wonder whether it's ever been in the water)

2019-04-19 09.10.35.png


Tim/Jim Kaleel? (I almost thought I had it there, but no, the famous physicist is spelt Jim al-Khalili)

Pointless postulation. But intriguing
 
That picture looks as though it was traced from a photograph, might be worth trying to track down.

I think '89' refers to his age when he died. And the 9/10 might mean that there are still nine more of these beauties to find!
 
That picture looks as though it was traced from a photograph
Yes it does. I still think this is not an old-age picture of Bruce- it has a younger feel to it

I think '89' refers to his age when he died
Ah. Good point. Never thought of that

9/10 might mean that there are still nine more of these
Conventionally, yes. Or, equally-conventionally could it be a relative score, '9 out of 10'?
[EDIT- no, you're right, I'm wrong....it's "09", clearly meaning a sequence of 9th from a series of 10)
 
The image looks like a badly drawn and reversed copy of this one which is literally the first thing that appears when you put Bruce Forsyth into Google. Mind you it also looks like it could be a drawing of Jimmy Hill!
935C5777-45B6-469E-A7A5-2DA541996544.jpeg
E640E836-82DD-446D-A0CE-65BA7B3F90D9.jpeg
 
I think the can of "Flaming Moe" energy drink and a rosary (?) really help to add scale reference within the photograph.

I hope they don't get blessed with the chance of photographing Nessie, or a Close Encounter with a UFO

Mind you it also looks like it could be a drawing of Jimmy Hill!
Why am I now getting a Sammy Davis Jnr impression from the drawing?

EDIT....Wait?! Where's the white '388007' gone?
 
Last edited:
And all those 'catch phrases' are reasonably recent and from TV appearances. So it's not someone who knew him, but someone who watched The Generation Game and whatever that thing was with the cards - Play Your Cards Right?

I think the picture is traced, not copied, because the nose is right yet the eyes are awful - done by someone with an ability to trace a picture but not a drawing talent.

And it was done by an earnest 'Brucie' fan, who has put these into bottles (anything lying around at home, so brought back from foreign holidays or just bought from the local offie) and thrown them into the water to commemorate the subject of their affection.
 
The condition of the labels on the bottle as Ermintruder pointed out suggest that the bottle would not have been in the water long, if at all. A teeny joke perhaps?
 
And all those 'catch phrases' are reasonably recent and from TV appearances. So it's not someone who knew him, but someone who watched The Generation Game and whatever that thing was with the cards - Play Your Cards Right?

I think the picture is traced, not copied, because the nose is right yet the eyes are awful - done by someone with an ability to trace a picture but not a drawing talent.

And it was done by an earnest 'Brucie' fan, who has put these into bottles (anything lying around at home, so brought back from foreign holidays or just bought from the local offie) and thrown them into the water to commemorate the subject of their affection.
He was knighted in 2011, so the reference to "Sir Bruce Forsyth" suggests an earliest possible date for when it was written.

His "Nice to see you, to see you, nice" catch phrase goes back almost forever. I can remember it from the 1970s, and I'm not sure that Samuel Pepys didn't refer to Brucie using it. Brucie started doing the Generation Game in 1971.

Brucie died on 18th August 2017, so it is likely someone did this asa sentimental act of remembrance soon after that.

He was a rarity: an entertainer who was popular and famous in the 1970s, and still much loved and admired — and still working in prime TV in a flagship show — in 2015. Unlike many BBC stars from the 1970s, he was never under the cloud of Operation Yew Tree. However, he did "put it about a bit" with the ladies in his early years.
 
"388007" (I think?). Perhaps written in Tippex / white correction fluid. A large number. Suggestive perhaps of a six-digit mobile phone-number, without the carrier/company code prefix?
Going with the premise that messages in a bottle don't often get far, and that this is a landline number, [Grimsby] 01472 388007 belongs to a football fan named Mike (this is publicly available information but I won't link here). Perhaps he's the artist? So all these people have to do is phone him and find out.

EDIT: my favourite message in a bottle, from Dan & Dan the Sesh Gremlims
 
Last edited:
so.....

what about upside down and back to front but not at the same time? :)
 
He was knighted in 2011, so the reference to "Sir Bruce Forsyth" suggests an earliest possible date for when it was written.

His "Nice to see you, to see you, nice" catch phrase goes back almost forever. I can remember it from the 1970s, and I'm not sure that Samuel Pepys didn't refer to Brucie using it. Brucie started doing the Generation Game in 1971.

Brucie died on 18th August 2017, so it is likely someone did this asa sentimental act of remembrance soon after that.

He was a rarity: an entertainer who was popular and famous in the 1970s, and still much loved and admired — and still working in prime TV in a flagship show — in 2015. Unlike many BBC stars from the 1970s, he was never under the cloud of Operation Yew Tree. However, he did "put it about a bit" with the ladies in his early years.

When you get to my age, Mike, the 1970's is relatively recent!

If you consider he started his stage career in around 1939, then the 1970's catch phrases are certainly from the latter part of his career.
 
Back
Top