Britain's King of the Jingles, Johnny Johnston, who wrote thousands of catchy advertising tunes for TV and radio all over the world, has died aged 78. He had been ill for some time, according to friend Bill Cotton, the former managing director of the BBC.

Johnston's jingles, which ate into the minds of potential consumers, included Beanz Meanz Heinz and I'm going well on Shell.

A member of The Keynotes vocal group in the 1950s, he was among the first to realise the potential of advertising when commercial TV started. He set up his own studio and wrote and recorded 4500 jingles - some recorded by major stars like Bing Crosby and Sammy Davis jnr.

''He was always known as King of the Jingles,'' said Mr Cotton. ''He had his own studio so he could do the whole thing. He would write it, arrange the music and then sing it and collect the money.''