Cultural commentator Peter York takes a look at the changing fortunes of British advertising, through the story of the personalities who led it through its highs and lows. Inspired by the US advertisers of Madison Avenue, a new generation of 1970s British ad men created a unique style of advertising based on authentic British culture which tapped into home-grown humour. But the same combination of ambition, big spending and oversized egos led to a fall when the business climate changed in the 1980s.
