My first overseas talk in support of The Man Who Supercharged Bond came about because of the one of the images on the front cover: the iconic 1962 image which Loomis Dean shot for Life magazine of Ian Fleming sitting in a Blower Bentley, the car supercharged by Amherst Villiers and famously driven by James Bond in the first three 007 novels.
Book talk at the Bugatti Trust, Prescott Hill, Gloucestershire: Wednesday, 10 March 2010
The Bugatti Trust possesses a wealth of primary source material relating to Bugatti, and in David Morys it has a first-rate archivist. Its on-line photo archive is an absolute treat – excellent search capabilities, and packed full of photos that deserve to be published much more often that they are.
Book talk to the Friends of Beaulieu, Brockenhurst, Hampshire: Saturday, 23 January 2010
It was entirely appropriate that the first talk in support of The Man Who Supercharged Bond was at Beaulieu. Patrick Collins still runs the Research Library there, and Jon Day the Motoring Picture Library, and they’ve both been an enormous help to me down the years.
The Book signing at Motor Books, Cecil Court, London: Saturday, 22 August 2009
Motor Books (1957-2013) was a fabulous, double-fronted book shop covering all aspects of transport, located in that little part of the West End rammed full of fabulous book shops. I was delighted that my first signing was there, and touched that there were posters in the windows advertising that I was coming.
Troubled of Teddington
Maybe I shouldn’t have gone. I’ve never seen a tribute act. I’d rather see the original band, play their albums, encounter interesting covers, and avoid precise copies altogether. But a friend had a spare ticket, Graceland is a wonderful album, and I went along to see ‘Gary Stewart’s Graceland’ at Teddington’s Landmark.
RIP, HRH
The death of Prince Philip brings to mind some of the occasions his path crossed Whitney Straight’s. One such moment, on 31 January 1952, was captured by Pathé News.
If you don’t ask, you don’t get
The death of John Haynes OBE, creator of the Haynes Manual, and founder of the publishing group and museum that bear his name, causes me to recall an exchange of letters I had with him in January 2007 which quite literally changed my life.
Remembering Willard Straight, 100 years on
Tonight, I shall be at a dinner at New York’s India House, remembering the co-founding member of the club who died 100 years ago today – Willard Dickerman Straight.
How one man recorded the end of World War 1, and his part in it
On this special day, I’ve been re-reading some of the research notes I’ve made in Cornell University’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. Among many treasures, it holds the personal correspondence between Whitney Straight’s parents, Willard and Dorothy.