Classic advert stars are unrecognisable as we reveal where they are now – £53K tax fraud row to bizarre death rumours

YOU know when you’ve been Tango’ed – and you’re unlikely to ever forget. 

This year marks 30 years since the controversial fizzy drink ad was banned from British telly in 1992. 

HandoutThe 1992 Tango ad was barred from the airwaves after sparking a playground craze[/caption]

Geeves Brewery/FacebookPeter now runs the successful Greeves Brewery with his son, Harry[/caption]

The advert showed an orange man – played by classical actor Peter Geeves – jump out from behind a postbox and slap a man in the face. 

Speaking in 2006, Peter told ITV: “I was asked to first of all run around, then run around and scream, then run around screaming topless, it was at that point I thought ‘aye-aye, this isn’t the normal run of the mill advert’.”

The wildly popular commercial sparked a playground slapping craze – which caused a few perforated eardrums. 

The Independent Television Commission decided to ban the advert from the airwaves in 1992.

But 30 years on the ad doesn’t seem to have damaged Peter’s career. 

He went on to have small parts in Muppet Treasure Island and Drop the Dead Donkey.

In 2011 Peter set up an award-winning microbrewery with his son, Harry -Geeves Brewery, at Grange Lane, Stairfoot – and it’s still open today.

From death rumours to trouble with the law and vampire slayers, here we look at what the other stars of the UK’s classic ads are up to today. 

Cadbury’s eyebrow wigglers

Cadbury’sThe 2009 Cadbury’s advert had viewer’s laughing at the kids’ wiggly brows[/caption]

Youtube/InstagramBradley Ford is now a YouTuber while Georgia Wake models[/caption]

Following on from the classic gorilla drummer advert, choc makers Cadbury’s released an eyebrow raising commercial in 2009.

It featured two kids sat posing for a school photo while wiggling their eyebrows along to music. 

Now 13 years on, the two child actors, Bradley Ford and Georgia Wake, have stayed in the entertainment business. 

Bradley went on to appear in Olivia Coleman film Mr Sloane and was in Gulliver’s Travels with Jack Black. 

After going to university, he set up a YouTube channel called The Eyebrow Kid. 

Georgia Wake is now modelling according to her Instagram page, having studied at Berkshire College of Agriculture. 

The Frosties kid

InstagramActor Sven Ruygork faced death rumours but is now a working actor[/caption]

The advert became known for its catchy – yet incredibly grating – jingle which promises “they’re gonna taste great”, and its enthusiastic child star. 

The cereal ad starred 15-year-old South African Sven Ruygrok, from Cape Town. 

A few years later strange rumours began to spread that the young actor had taken his own life. 

Speaking to Vice in 2016, he said: “I do vividly remember my parents being affected by it. 

“I mean, what would you do as a parent if your child’s name was being thrown around the internet like a rag doll under a truck by people who have never met them?”

Now 30, Sven lives in South Africa and is still acting. Last year, he appeared in Around the World in 80 Days with David Tennant.  

Safestyle UK’s BOGOF bloke

Ruckas/AlamyThe voice of Safestyle was ordered to pay £53,000 after dodging tax bills[/caption]

Who can forget the distinctive catchphrase “I said you buy one, you get one free”?

The inexplicably Viking-themed 1999 advert for uPVC doors and double-glazed windows starred northerner Jeff Brown. 

In 2016, Brown was hauled before the courts over unpaid tax bills.

He was ordered to pay £53,000 or face jail after failing to file tax returns.

He had received £350,000 from working as a contractor for Safestyle and also worked as a match day host at Burnley FC games, and owed the taxman £58,000.

He received a two-year suspended sentence. 

R White’s Secret Lemonade Drinker

R Whites/PAJulien Chagrin and Harriet Philpin recreated the famous ad in 2012[/caption]

The R White lemonade advert from 1973 showed a husband, played by actor Julian Chagrin, caught sneaking lemonade by his wife, played by Harriet Philpin. 

The advert’s catchy tune was written by Ross McManus – Elvis Costello’s father. 

Chagrin moved to Israel 20 years ago with his actress wife Rolanda. 

Meanwhile Harriet moved to Ireland and was tracked down by R Whites in 2012 through her son who saw an advert in a paper. 

The stars of the classic TV ad reunited that year to recreate the commercial – but using ice lollies. 

Hovis bike boy

BNPSHovis boy Carl Barlow recreated the scene in 2017[/caption]

Voted Britain’s favourite advert in 2019, the Hovis boy on a bike advert is still remembered today. 

The original ad was filmed in 1973 starring 13-year-old Carl Barlow who treks his bike up a cobbled Yorkshire street. 

The actor ditched the limelight and worked for the London Fire Service until 2012. 

In 2017 Barlow, now 63, recreated the advert for Evans electric bikes – easily peddling up the same hill that outfoxed him as a youngster.

He told the Daily Mail: “Looking back, it was an awesome experience. I was 13 at the time and attending stage school when I was asked to audition for the part.

“Three boys were auditioned, one couldn’t ride a bike, one wasn’t prepared to cut his hair and I was happy to do both.”

Nescafe Gold Blend mini drama

At one point 30million people watched the Gold Blend couple declare their love

RexActress Sharon Maughan had a spell on Loose Women while Anthony Head starred in Buffy[/caption]

For the first time an advert had recurring characters with couple Tony and Sharon. 

The 12 Nescafe Gold Blend ads, which ran from 1987 and followed the fictional couple’s romance, saw the instant coffee brand’s sales jump by 50 per cent. 

Anthony Head – who played character Tony – had an illustrious theatre career and went on to star as Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Prime Minister in Little Britain. 

Actress Sharon Maughan starred in BBC series Holby City for eight years and became a regular panellist for ITV’s Loose Women in the 2010s.