Nipper was born in 1884 in Bristol, England and lived to 1895. He was named Nipper because he tried to bite visitors in the leg! (I once had a horse named Kicker - no guesses!)Three years after Nipper's death Francis Barraud painted a picture of him listening intently to a wind-up Edison-Bell cylinder phonograph, because cylinder phonographs were capable of making home recordings. This picture shows Nipper listening to Nipper's previous owner, Francis's deceased brother, Mark. In 1899 the painting was bought by the Gramophone Company, which painted out the Edison-Bell machine and replaced it with one of theirs.
Technically, this was non-sense as gramophones were not capable of recording, but the public seemed not to have noticed this error, (oh the non-questioning public!) as this modified form became the successful trademark of Victor records, HMV music stores, and RCA.
Barking Mad comments: It's OK to use dogs to advertise homeware and media stores, new housing developments, banks and more - yet take pooch to these places and see if you are welcome. Our pets are not an advertising tool, they are part of our family.
