Cinzano of the vermouth market in Europe was measured in the low single digits, sales that placed it a distant second to Martini. As a result of a 1997 merger, Grand Metropolitan became Diageo; two years later, Diageo sold Cinzano to the privately held Gruppo Campari. The Cinzano bicycling team had a central role in the film "Breaking Away". Cinzano was well known in Britain for its humorous television advertisements featuring Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins. One of these featured the pair on a plane journey, with Rossiter accidentally hitting the "recline" switch on Collins chair, causing her to spill a
Joan Bates Joan Bates Joan Bates (2 September 1929 – 10 March 2016) was the co-founder, with her husband Paddy Roy Bates, of the Principality of Sealand of which they appointed themselves Prince Roy and Princess Joan. Joan Bates was born Joan Collins on 2 September 1929 at Aldershot Barracks, England, the daughter of RSM Albert Collins of the Royal Horse Artillery, and his wife, Elizabeth. The family were later stationed at Shoebury Barracks. As a young woman, Joan was a carnival queen and model who, according to her son Michael, "modelled for all sorts of companies". Joan met British Army major