Brooklands Museum, Weybridge, Surrey, 19 February 2026
The birthplace of British motorsport and aviation is the ideal location to talk about Whitney. The epitome of a wings and wheels man, he won races and broke lap records at Brooklands as a matter of routine.
The talk will be held in the Napier Room, and will also be streamed. Tickets to attend the talk in person, for Brooklands Museum members and non-members alike, and also for those who wish to livestream the evening, may be purchased here.
White Waltham is one of the UK’s oldest and best known airfields, and is home to the West London Aero Club. The aerodrome is forever associated with the Air Transport Auxiliary, with whom Whitney’s close friend, Diana Barnato Walker, served with distinction. My talk focused on Whitney’s childhood fascination with aircraft; qualifying as a pilot at just 17; his pre-war civil aviation business (the aerodromes, the airlines and the Miles Whitney Straight); his rise through the ranks from Pilot Officer to Air Commodore with 601 and 242 Squadrons, and 216 (Air Transport and Ferry) Group; and his his post-war career with BEA, BOAC and Rolls-Royce.
Thanks to Adam on sound and a mighty projector, the
The Royal Automobile Club’s Pall Mall clubhouse library was the perfect location for the book launch. I spent many weeks there, maybe even months, poring over books and 1930s magazines, and that lovely long room, lined with oak book shelves and with open fires at each end, is quite literally my favourite room in London.
The inaugural Wild Words Festival took place over the Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend, the brainchild of the irrepressible science writer,
My friends in the
Our last night at the end of four weeks of North American book business and pleasure coincided with the the first stopover for the 73 Bugatti drivers participating in the
It’s interesting to recall this one, and who’s doing what now. In between climbs up the hill to take in the action at the Corkscrew – surely, one of the most amazing corners on a race track anywhere – I spent time in Vendor Alley, signing books at the Wine County Motorsports and Green Mountain Motorbooks stands.
Online,
Autobooks-Aerobooks,