Nipper was born in 1884 in Bristol, England, and died in September 1895. He was a mixed-breed dog, part Bull Terrier with a trace of Fox Terrier. It has also been claimed in various sources that he was a Fox Terrier, a Rat Terrier, or an American Pit Bull Terrier (unlikely, since he was not an American dog). He was named Nipper because he tried to bite visitors in the leg.
After his death, his former owner 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. It was three years after Nipper's death that he painted this picture of Nipper listening to the home recording of Francis's deceased brother, Mark Barraud (died 1887), to whom the dog had previously belonged. (note that both Nipper and the phonograph are shown sitting on what appears to be the lid of a coffin in the original work). In 1899 the painting was bought by the Gramophone Company, which commissioned the artist to paint out the Edison-Bell machine and replace it with one of theirs. Technically, this modification rendered the painting meaningless, since gramophones were not capable of recording, but the public seemed not to have noticed this error, as this modified form became the successful trademark of Victor and HMV records, HMV music stores, and RCA. (See HMV for a complete history of the brands based on Nipper.)
Nipper was buried in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, in a small park surrounded by Magnolia trees. Later, above the grave, was built a branch of Lloyds TSB, and on the wall of the bank is a brass plaque commemorating the famous terrier which lies beneath it.
Nipper lives on through the brand names; he even appeared in ads on television with his "son", a puppy named Chipper
Uploaded by Cristian 1929 on 7 Dec '06, 7.31pm CLST.
