Soho thief no doubt disappointed with my 1979 betting records

I suppose I stopped making lists and keeping betting records at around the time of the 'Jiffy' fiasco.

Not that the two things were closely connected; it's just that most of my time was taken up with looking for a new job. Maybe I was never destined to be an advertising man. Whoosh! – my name for a brand new laxative – was dismissed out of hand while suggesting the Jiffy, a contraceptive aimed fairly and squarely at the big names, was met with complete silence.

"Dear heart," old Arthur Sears said. "You were looking ahead to a television slot before the product was launched. It's 40 years ago but I remember it well. You even had the young lover saying: 'Excuse me, my darling, I'll be back in a Jiffy'."