BOXER dog Biff is something of a celebrity. After landing the role of Buster in the heartwarming John Lewis Christmas advertisement in 2016, Biff became an overnight sensation—the two-minute spot, which saw the exuberant boxer bouncing up and down gleefully on a trampoline, was the most-watched Christmas TV advertisement worldwide on YouTube that year, gaining more than 20 million views. Within minutes of its release, ‘Buster the Boxer’ was trending higher on social media than the US election results, announced the day before.
‘Biff loves the attention,’ reveals owner Jan Patten, who has three boxers in total: Biff, Betty, and Darcey. ‘He’d never done anything like that before. We only auditioned because my agility trainer saw the advertisement and suggested we go along. It was three years ago, but he’s still sometimes recognized—he’s been asked for so many photographs that, now, whenever he sees someone holding a camera, he sits and poses.’
Playful, energetic and silly, boxers are natural comics—the perfect star for an advertisement designed to make people smile. Then there’s the matter of those lovable faces. ‘They’ve got such expression,’ says Mrs. Patten. ‘That’s what sets them apart. They can look so different from one minute to the next. They’re real clowns, constantly making us laugh. You have to have a big sense of humor to own a boxer—the biggest sense of humor, perhaps, but once you live with one, there’s no other dog.’
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der December 25, 2019-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der December 25, 2019-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds