Gocompare.com Gocompare.com GoCompare is a British financial services comparison website, established in Wales in 2006. It provides comparison details for financial products including car insurance, home and pet insurance and breakdown cover. Since 2009 its adverts have featured a fictional Italian tenor named Gio Compario (played by Welsh tenor Wynne Evans), which have been voted "most irritating advertisement". It is listed on the London Stock Exchange. GoCompare was established in November 2006 and is based in Newport, Wales. The company's founder was Hayley Parsons, who worked for Admiral Insurance for 14 years, and was formerly head of business development at Confused.com.
The Adverts and an appearance on "Top of the Pops", the Adverts became big news. Observers focused on frontman Smith and bassist Gaye Advert. Reviewers noted Smith's songwriting ability. He was said to have "captured the spirit of the times few contemporaries could match". Another reviewer described Smith as the band’s "raging heart, spitting out the failsafe succession of songs which still delineate punk’s hopes, aspirations and, ultimately, regrets". In contrast, Gaye Advert's reputation was more fleeting. She was "one of punk’s first female icons". Her "photogenic" looks, "panda-eye make-up and omnipresent leather jacket defined the face of female punkdom until well