And so the Jolly Fisherman was born and he made his debut around Easter that same year in conjunction with a special three-shilling offer for Londoners to visit Skegness. The poster’s now legendary wording - Skegness Is So Bracing – was said to have been dreamt up by an unknown member of staff at the rail company. And so with a colourful picture and memorable slogan, Skegness's talismanic character was born, making his debut around Easter that year along with a special three-shilling offer for Londoners to visit Skegness. I figured the worst possible outcome was death, which didn't seem so bad compared with continuing on to Skegness."

The iconic sight of a carefree Jolly Fisherman gaily skipping across the golden sands of Skegness is one we’ve all grown up with. Painted more than a century ago, surely no-one could have imagined just how enduring John Hassall’s iconic 1908 poster would prove to be. This is something which publisher Transworld were unaware of in 2016, when they used Jolly on the front cover of Bill Bryson's popular book, The Road to Little Dribbling.

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At a meeting of Skegness Town Council on March 4 last year, Jolly was 'saved' as the council agreed to take him on. Meanwhile the caption of 'so bracing' which adorns the poster is thought to have been the brainchild of an unknown member of staff at the rail company.

years later, as the country was hooked by World Cup fever, British Railways gifted Mr Hassall's masterpiece to the town and to this day it is owned by Skegness Town Council.Later on, he wrote: "I was so half mad with boredom that I began to fantasise about trying to jump the car over the roadside ditch and see if I could land upright in a potato field. To this day, Jolly remains, as former councillor John Byford put it, the 'A-list celeb' of Skegness and a statue honouring the county's most famous fisherman can be found by the coast as a constant reminder of his work to put the town on the map.