Almost everyone has heard of the Pirelli calendar. Most people know it is published by Pirelli, the Italian tyre company. But who dreamed up this flamboyant confection of style and sensuality? Not, it turns out, those passionate Italians with their love of fashion and keen appreciation of the female form – but, of all people, the British.

The year was 1962 and Derek Forsyth (pictured right), then in charge of advertising and publicity at Pirelli’s UK subsidiary, was wondering how he could boost sales in a tyre market dominated by better-known brands such as Avon, Goodyear and Dunlop. In those days, most replacement tyres were sold by small, independent tyre dealers, so getting their support was key to any marketing strategy. Gifts engendered goodwill: a popular one, at a time when most men smoked, was a glass ashtray encircled by a miniature rubber tyre. Even more popular, at a time when most men liked staring at pictures of gorgeous birds with their kit off, were the girlie calendars that many tyre companies and car part manufacturers handed out to the trade in the run-up to Christmas. “I don’t know why but it was just something you did if you were in the motor industry,” says Forsyth, who now works as an independent design consultant in north London.