Actor James Nesbitt helped deliver the final copies of the Yellow Pages to mark the end of its era.

The well-known telephone directory, owned by Yell, was first printed in Brighton in 1966.
 
For many years, the book provided the answer to people’s woes with its comprehensive list of plumbers, electricians and so forth. In short, it was a bible of information.

Actor and presenter James, star of the much-loved comedy-drama TV series Cold Feet, featured in the Yellow Pages commercials for many years.

The 54-year-old helped deliver some of the last editions on Friday in the city where it all began. James said: “I’ve had a great time chatting to Yell’s two longest serving customers and delivering the final copies around the city of Brighton.

“The Yellow Pages is such a much-loved piece of history, almost every household including my own had one by their telephone, and it helped to connect us to local businesses in our towns and cities. The Yell brand has been great to me over the years and I thoroughly enjoyed filming the adverts, so I’m really honoured to have played a part in the final delivery too.”

The brand had some memorable TV adverts, which included JR Hartley’s “Fly Fishing” and a campaign which launched in 2003 starring James as the hapless character “Adam” who uses the Yellow Pages to get himself out of some tricky situations.

The Yellow Pages has been delivered to more than 27 million UK households, with almost one billion copies printed over its 53-year run. More than a million independent businesses have advertised in it, from hairdressers and plumbers, to artificial eye merchants.

Chief Executive of Yell, Richard Hanscott, said: “What better place to deliver the final edition than the city where it all began, and who better to deliver them with than James Nesbitt?

“James has played a big part in Yell’s history for his part in our legendary TV adverts, with the ‘hairdressers’ and the ‘yoga’ adverts remembered as some of the most memorable adverts in the UK. We are extremely proud to say that we still have customers who have been with us since the very first directory, and are now with us online.

“While goodbyes can be hard, we felt that this was the right time to end the Yellow Pages, and look forward to continuing our future online at Yell.com.”

While Yellow Pages is now consigned to the history books, it will always be a precious memory for many and the last edition is likely to become a collectors’ item.

(www.theargus.co.uk)