What became of the robots in the Mash Get Smash TV ad?

The Smash Martians were a group of robotic aliens created in the 1970s to promote Cadbury’s Smash instant mashed potatoes.

The campaign came from the mind of the advertising genius that was John Webster, who gave us the Sugar Puffs Honey Monster, the performing dog in the John Smith bitter commercials and the Kia Ora crow. 

All were highly distinctive and were very effective.

Legend has it that the Smash ads origin story began down the pub, where Webster said to his copywriter: ‘If anyone came down from another planet and saw that we bothered to peel potatoes, boil them and mash them up when you can get it out of a packet, they’d think we were barmy!’

They ran with the idea of creating a family of Martian robots who would laugh derisively at foolish humans laboriously preparing mashed potato.

They would chortle hysterically as ‘Earth people peeled their own potatoes with their metal knives, boiled them for 20 of their minutes, then smashed them all to bits’.

The Martians were built by the husband-and-wife team of Chris Wilkins and Sian Vickers, who went on to create the Direct Line four-wheeled red telephone.

The Smash Martians were four-foot-high models which were made largely of moulded plastic.

Each required three people to use bicycle brake callipers to operate them. A number of the original models survive. 

A family of three - a mother, her baby and a cat - are on permanent display at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford. Another (a red male) greets visitors to the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising in London, and a further Martian can be found in a glass case at the offices of Premier Foods in St Albans.

An interesting aside is that following the success of the adverts, car workers at Ford in Halewood began a sideline making Martian models from car parts and hawking them around the local pubs. 

There are supposedly hundreds of these adorning sitting rooms in the Merseyside area.

Carl Evans, Liverpool

QUESTION: How did the Mani Pulite investigation take down the Italian government?

The Mani Pulite (‘Clean Hands’) investigation, launched by Milan magistrates in 1992, exposed pervasive corruption in Italy’s political and business elite. 

It centred on the widespread system where businesses paid political parties and officials in exchange for public contracts. This system implicated members across the political spectrum.

The investigation began when Mario Chiesa, a Socialist Party official, was caught accepting a bribe. His arrest set off a chain reaction: Chiesa co-operated with prosecutors, leading to further revelations drawing an ever-increasing number of officials and businessmen into the web. 

It soon became clear that traditional political parties were systematically financed through illegal schemes. Mani Pulite had a devastating political impact. 

Tomorrow's questions:

Q: What were the largest ships throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries?

Katie Weston, Honiton, Devon 

Q: What does ‘in-yer-face’ theatre mean?

Helen Edwards, Telford, Shropshire 

Q: What became of the pioneering aviatrix Jessie ‘Chubbie’ MiIler following her partner Bill Lancaster’s murder trial in 1932?

Colin Simpson, Wendover, Bucks 

Many politicians, including senior figures, were indicted or fled prosecution. The most important suspect was Bettino Craxi, leader of the Socialist Party and former prime minister, who was a central figure in the corruption network. 

In May 1994, he fled to Tunis in order to escape jail. Craxi was tried in absentia and twice convicted by Italian courts. He died in exile in 2000.

Craxi’s downfall symbolised the collapse of the old political order. The scandal decimated Italy’s First Republic (1948-1994). 

By the mid-1990s, more than half of Italy’s parliament had been under investigation and many traditional parties disbanded.

The political vacuum created by Mani Pulite allowed new forces to emerge, notably Silvio Berlusconi, a media magnate who founded Forza Italia and capitalised on the public’s disillusionment. 

The investigation also contributed to widespread voter cynicism, as it revealed the systemic nature of corruption.

Emily Gerard, Wantage, Oxon

QUESTION: Did West Auckland Town FC once beat the mighty Juventus FC?

Further to the earlier answer that stated the reason for their invitation to play in Turin is ‘unclear’.

It is thought that Sir Thomas Lipton simply wrote to WAFC.

Royal Mail delivered to West Auckland FC rather than the intended recipient, Woolwich Arsenal FC, a much more famous football club in 1909.

Chris Parkhurst, Poole, Dorset