. hovis ltd type limited company industry food founded macclesfield cheshire united kingdom 1886 headquarters high wycombe buckinghamshire key people nish kankiwala chairman 1 products bread flour owner the gores group 51 % premier foods 49 % website www.hovis.co.uk hovis ltd is a british company that produces flour and bread . the brand originated in macclesfield cheshire in 1886 and became part of rank hovis mcdougall rhm in 1962 after a succession of mergers . rhm with its brands including hovis and mother s pride was acquired by premier foods in 2007 . hovis became a limited company in april 2014 after premier foods sold a 51 % stake in the business to the gores group to form a joint venture between the two companies . 2 hovis specialises in high wheatgerm wholemeal flour the bread being baked independently . it also produces the nimble brand reduced calorie bread . 3 contents 1 history 2 advertising 3 hovis map books 4 hovis biscuit 5 references 6 external links history edit this section needs expansion . you can help by adding to it . february 2011 grave of richard stoney smith in highgate cemetery . the inscription details his discovery of the hovis process . hovis s managing director giving a pep talk to staff in 1935 the brand began in 1886 ; 4 the hovis process was patented on 6 october 1887 5 by richard stoney smith 1836 1900 and s. fitton & sons ltd developed the brand milling the flour and selling it along with hovis branded baking tins to other bakers . the name was coined in 1890 by london student herbert grime in a national competition set by s. fitton & sons ltd to find a trading name for their patent flour which was rich in wheat germ . grime won 25 when he coined the word from the latin phrase hominis vis the strength of man . 4 the company became the hovis bread flour company limited in 1898 . 4 when the abundance of certain b vitamins in wheatgerm was reported in 1924 hovis increased in popularity . 4 advertising edit hovis bread monument at gold hill in 1915 when the london and south western railway inaugurated their first electric train services they introduced alphabetical head codes in lieu of the traditional discs used on steam locomotives so that the general public could more easily identify their train . a 1926 advertisement widely deployed on the railways showed five such trains carrying headcodes h v i s along with an explanation h hampton court hounslow v kingston thames valley i dorking north & effingham and s shepperton . the fact that the clockwise hounslow loop head code was a slightly height reduced o topped by a bar explains the unique rendering of the brand as h vis a rendering that significantly outlasted the advertising campaign . gold hill shaftesbury where ridley scott filmed the 1973 hovis commercial in 1973 hovis became lodged in the public imagination through an evocative television advertisement boy on bike a.k.a. boy on the bike and bike ride 4 written by geoff seymour from the collett dickenson pearce advertising agency and directed by ridley scott who six years later would come to the public s attention when alien was released . the advert featured the slow movement of anton n dvo k s symphony no. 9 rearranged for brass . 6 filmed on gold hill in shaftesbury dorset scott s advert has been voted britain s favourite advertisement of all time . 7 8 this advertisement was repeated on british television for a 10 day run in may 2006 to commemorate the firm s 120th anniversary . the boy on the bike carl barlow then aged 13 left acting and eventually became a firefighter in east ham in 1979 . 7 9 in 2008 hovis departed from the boy on a bike format by commissioning go on lad a retrospective advertisement documenting the 122 years of british history since the brand s launch . go on lad was voted advert of the decade by the british public in december 2009 . hovis map books edit hovis ltd. published a series of map books which included advertisements for their products . in 1899 the company produced eight books of maps covering england and wales designed for cyclists . 10 in 1920 the company published where to go and how to get there hovis road map of england wales and scotland and several versions of this book were later printed . 11 hovis biscuit edit main article hovis biscuit since 1980 hovis have licensed jacob s to produce a digestive biscuit branded as hovis . 4 now a united biscuits product they are shaped like a miniature flat copy of the traditional hovis loaf and like the bread have the word hovis stamped on their top surface . references edit bamford vince 20 may 2014 . hovis names former burger king boss nish kankiwala chairman . the grocer . retrieved 25 november 2014 . brownsell alex 27 january 2014 . premier foods sells controlling stake in hovis . marketing magazine . retrieved 25 november 2014 . nimble . hovis . 2014 . retrieved 25 november 2014 . a b c d e f hovis 120 years of goodness pdf . 2006 . retrieved 2011 02 02 . gb 189905961 smith richard a new or improved method or process for treating the germ of wheat for food purposes . 1900 02 17 iain sinclair 20 january 2011 . the raging peloton . 33 2 . london review of books 3 8 . issn 0260 9592 . retrieved 2011 02 03 . triggered by an archive clip of his maternal grandfather herbert morrison another ennobled socialist cabinet minister mandelson launched into a memoir of cycling around hendon committee room to polling station bearing leaflets carrying messages as proudly as the freshly baked loaves in ridley scott s celebrated commercial shot in 1973 on the picturesque slopes of shaftesbury . carl barlow the youth who featured in the advertisement underscored by the slow movement of dvorak s symphony no 9 arranged for brass went on to become a fireman in east ham . a b ciar byrne 2 may 2006 . ridley scott s hovis advert is voted all time favourite . the independent . retrieved 2011 02 03 . jets jeans and hovis . the guardian . 13 june 2015 . back to where i was born and bread hovis boy recreates famous advert 40 years later . mirror 4 december 2013 maurice rickards 2000 . the encyclopedia of ephemera a guide to the fragmentary documents of everyday life for the collector curator and historian . psychology press . pp. 332 . isbn 978 0 415 92648 5 . hovis road map of england wales and scotland . holdings of the roger s. baskes collection newberry library . external links edit official website hovis on facebook hovis s channel on youtube hovis profile on twitter retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title hovis & oldid 716568965 categories 1890 introductionsbakeries of the united kingdombritish brandscompanies based in buckinghamshirefood brands of the united kingdomfood manufacturers of the united kingdompremier foods brandshidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parametersarticles to be expanded from february 2011all articles to be expandedarticles using small message boxesofficial website different in wikidata and wikipediause dmy dates from december 2010 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 22 april 2016 at 13 04 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view