John Farquhar's magic

11 Apr 2008

Celebrating his 80th birthday yesterday, Thursday, 10 April 2008, and 60 years in the advertising industry, the indomitable John Farquhar has promised to keep the industry on his toes while he is still alive. He has no plans to retire; he loves his work so much, it's become his ‘hobby'.

“While I'm alive I'll get up your noses. Nothing gets up my butt more than crap advertising,” he held forth from the podium at his birthday cocktail function at the Inanda Club in Johannesburg last night.

And of course, being Farquhar, he just can't leave it there - he had the stage after all... “All creatives are interested in is prancing across the stage to collect awards.”

Apparently the only guy old enough to remember Farks when he wasn't grumpy and when Harry Herber had hair, industry commentator Chris Brewer was the laugh-a-minute MC. Speaking from the heart and as slick as Dave Bullard on a podium, Brewer had the audience in stitches with his vignettes of Farquhar and the industry, recounting Farquhar's talent to spot a ‘double-DD cup'.

“We live in the time of ‘gimmie, gimmie, gimmie' and people who haven't any time. But John Farquhar is someone who has never asked for anything in return for helping you. All you have to do is ask... and then stand back and listen for 30 minutes!

“He's someone who is in the office at 6am every day and covers every function he can. He'll be at every function 15 minutes early and leave three hours before the end.”

In introducing the special magic show laid on for Farquhar, Brewer explained that magicians were one of Farks' favourite things... along with advertising, Jameson, travelling and big tits!

At the celebration, organised by Owlhurst Communications, over R50 000 worth of travel vouchers were handed over to Farquhar as well as a cheque to his charity of choice, Boy's Town. There were in total over 50 creative and media agencies, design companies, media owners, PR companies and individuals who made financial contibutions. The three biggest contributors were Primedia Publishing, Oracle Airtime Sales and Primedia Unlimited.

About Louise Marsland

Louise Burgers (previously Marsland) is Founder/Content Director: SOURCE Content Marketing Agency. Louise is a Writer, Publisher, Editor, Content Strategist, Content/Media Trainer. She has written about consumer trends, brands, branding, media, marketing and the advertising communications industry in SA and across Africa, for over 20 years, notably, as previous Africa Editor: Bizcommunity.com; Editor: Bizcommunity Media/Marketing SA; Editor-in-Chief: AdVantage magazine; Editor: Marketing Mix magazine; Editor: Progressive Retailing magazine; Editor: BusinessBrief magazine; Editor: FMCG Files newsletter. Web: www.sourceagency.co.za.