Packet of 20 John Player Special king size cigarettes, carrying the warning 'Tobacco causes cancer' and made by The Imperial Group under the brand John Player & Sons, Nottingham, England, 1999.

In 1877 John Player bought an existing tobacco business and rapidly expanded it, primarily through establishing manufacturing facilities in Nottingham. Although he died just seven years later in 1884, his sons continued growing the business until it merged into the Imperial Tobacco Group in 1901. However, the Player name was retained across a number of cigarette brands.

John Player Special cigarettes, with the distinctive intertwined ‘JPS’ logo were a particularly high profile product, garnering worldwide coverage when the Lotus Formula 1 Grand Prix cars took on the brand’s name, logo and black colour when sponsored by them in the 1970s. This packet dates from 1999, by which time under an EEC (European Economic Community) directive from 1989 cigarette packing was required to display a warning about how smoking was harmful to health. Within 20 years, such warnings would be progressively increased both in size and in graphic content until 2016 when all manufacturers selling cigarettes within the UK were compelled to introduce plain packaging, with prominent health warnings and minimal information about the maker.