JustBritish

Exciting new material about the filming of ‘The Persuaders’ TV series has been uncovered in the Archives of the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust (based at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, near Warwick) during a major re-cataloguing project.

‘The Persuaders’ celebrates its 40th Anniversary having debuted on British TV in September 1971. The stars of the show were Sir Roger Moore and the late Tony Curtis, who drove an Aston Martin DBS and a Ferrari Dino 246 GT respectively. Sir Roger Moore was re-united with the actual Aston Martin DBS used at a recent event, to commemorate the anniversary and the release of the series on Blu-ray DVD.

Photographs, film production records and correspondence relating to this classic Seventies TV series have come to light in the personal collection of the late Roger Stowers. Roger Stowers worked at Aston Martin Lagonda Limited from 1966 until 2000 and was for many years the company’s historian. The Archive team at the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust are beginning to catalogue and conserve this significant collection.

Read more at the BMIHT site.

Tynemouth Priory, in North Tyneside, played host to more than 50 classic vehicles at the weekend for the climax of the MG Northumbria Car Club’s annual Heritage event.

Set against the impressive backdrop of the English Heritage site, dozens of club members got to showcase their pride and joy to admiring spectators, all with a common appreciation for the popular classic cars of yesteryear.

Among the impressive display was an MG Midget, a 1948 Riley 2.5 litre Roadster, an Austin Healy, a TVR and a Lotus Cortina. Overall winner on the day out of the 54 cars exhibited was George Dalgarno with his 1948 Riley Roadster.

Club committee member Mike Mitchell said: “The prize was handed out to the owner who had best maintained their vehicle. The rally is a great chance for owners to show off to the public what they’ve achieved, as well as showing off to each other. We were lucky with the weather – there were no breakdowns and we had a lot of people turning out to view the rally.”

Visitors to the priory, were also able to explore the ruins and learn more about the history of the site. The classic cars of MG and others were the perfect accompaniment to the location.

With almost 80 members, MG Northumbria is one of the largest areas within the MG Owners Club. Its members hail from as far north as the Scottish Borders down to County Durham, and west along the Tyne Valley. As an active club, it meets once a month at Backworth Hall, in North Tyneside, and stages regular events along with its own Heritage Run, attracting interest from all over the country.

Robbie Williams has admitted he still can’t drive a car at the age of 37. The British singer struggles to get around Los Angeles, where he lives with wife Ayda Field, because he has never passed his driving test.

He said: “I don’t have a driver’s licence. In London you just don’t drive because the traffic is terrible, so you get cabs to go everywhere, which has left me being 37 and still without a driver’s licence in Los Angeles.”

Although he can’t drive, the Take That star – who has teamed up with country music star Bob Paisley to record ‘Collision of Worlds’ for the forthcoming ‘Cars 2′ movie – is fascinated by cars and loves watching motor racing on television.

In an interview organised by Disney and posted on Robbie’s official website, he said: “We have Formula 1 over in England, and it’s always been a very important part of growing up and seeing these heroes and respecting and admiring them and the glamour that surrounds them. It’s exciting.”

The ‘Flood’ singer also admitted he thinks of himself as a “steady and reliable” minivan.

Asked what type of car he thinks he is, he said: “I think I’d be a van, to be honest. Nice and comfortable, steady, reliable. I’d like to consider myself like something sporty, but I’m not. So yeah, a minivan with a plasma screen inside, big relaxing chairs and comfort. That would be me.”

A Mini mad student has photographed one of the original cars back at the plant where it was built 50 years ago – alongside an engineer who worked on the first prototype. For the last project for his University of Derby BA (Hons) Commercial Photography degree course Simon Thompson took his own 1960 model Mini – one of the first sold – back to the Longbridge Plant in Birmingham where it was built.

Simon photographed his car at the plant alongside Doug Adams, 91, who worked on the Mini prototype alongside its creator Sir Alec Issigonis, when the two men became friends. Doug still lives on the Longbridge Estate in Birmingham, established by the Austin motor company at the end of the First World War.

The photos by Simon will be on public display at the University’s Markeaton Street site in Derby as part of its annual Degree Shows, which began on Saturday (June 4) and runs until Saturday June 11. Hundreds of students’ work in crafts, fashion, textiles, fine art, film, design, theatre, visual communications, architecture, music technology, creative expressive therapies and art therapy will be on display for the public to come and see for free at the University’s Markeaton Street and Britannia Mill sites in Derby, and elsewhere.

Simon, 25, originally of Henllan in Wales, said: “I’ve always been interested in Minis. My dad used to race them and when I learned to drive I bought a 1960 model. “I learnt about the history of the Mini’s production. Two years ago I was at an event at the Heritage Motor Centre for British cars, in Gaydon, in Warwickshire, when I met Doug and heard all about the car’s early design. “We kept in touch and, when I was putting together my degree project, it seemed only natural to get Doug into the photos of where it all began.” Doug added: “It was interesting to see how the plant had changed. I remember being there with Sir Alec Issigonis, who was quite a character.” Simon was helped with his project by MG Motor UK Ltd. It is now based at the Longbridge site and gave him access to the original Mini factory site, much of which is still standing.

Ian Pogson, MG Motor UK Ltd’s Chief Engineer (After Sales Engineering), said: “MG Motor UK is well aware of its proud past associated with the Mini and Sir Alec Issigonis, and has preserved some original Minis in a small museum which also includes Lord Austin’s office.

“We were able to allow Simon very special access to these areas and for Doug Adams to once again walk into the old Mini Design Studio. Simon was able to photograph his Mini alongside the assembly line of the recently launched MG6, causing quite a stir amongst our assembly team.”

The University of Derby is also proud to be part of Universities UK-led Universities Week, which will run from June 13 to 19, 2011. It will be getting involved with national activities highlighting the surprising links and relationships that universities have with the people and businesses in their local communities, of which this story is just one example.

Guest post by Hannah Warder

When you are going for a leisurely drive, or even just your daily commute, it is nice to listen to some music instead of listening to people talking and laughing on the radio. But what songs are particularly popular to listen to while driving, and why? We’ve found five songs which are played in cars all over the UK, on the motorway, driveway, and probably in the line at a fast food drive through too.

The Boys are Back in Town – Thin Lizzy

This song is featured on the Top Gear Seriously Cool Driving Music CD set (1), and it is easy to see why. It’s a sing-along tune known through the generations. Of course this song works particularly well if used by a group of men who are literally back in town!

Don’t Stop Me Now – Queen

One to sing your heart out to, Don’t Stop Me Now is another classic driving song. You would find it hard to be feeling angry listening to this, even if you were stuck in a traffic jam.

Every Little Thing She Does is Magic – Sting and the Police

Sting seems to be a popular choice for a more chilled out journey in the car, but doesn’t skimp on the catchy lyrics front either. Just because it topped the UK charts in November 1981 (2), it doesn’t mean it isn’t still cool today.

Wouldn’t it be Nice – The Beach Boys

Another upbeat song! This song makes us want to roll down the windows (or a convertible roof) and drive next to an ocean on a warm summers day. Although once you listen to one Beach Boys song it is easy to get into the mood for the whole album.

Don’t Stop Believing – Journey

There have been a couple of covers of this song in the past year, but the Journey one is the most classic. Like the other songs above, Don’t Stop Believing is just as catchy and easy to sing along to. In fact, this seems like a recurring theme when it comes to driving music; if you can sing along to it, and it makes you happy, it is destined to be a song for your journey.

About the author: Hannah Warder writes for MediaVest (Manchester) on a number of topics, including car insurance.

References

(1)  Amazon – Top Gear Songs.

(2) Amazon – The Police.

Never text while driving. Call with caution while driving.

But there’s one phone application made specifically for use on the road — GPS navigation. Already, several car nav programs for mobiles are available, but today the most highly anticipated of them arrived: the TomTom app for iPhone, which was announced in June.

The app was designed to closely emulate GPS navigation units for cars, and indeed it has turn-by-turn directions, voice instructions, touch-screen commands, a choice of 2D or 3D mapping, day/night screen choices and coverage of the U.S. and Canada.

The price is not cheap — $99.99 — but that’s less than the cost of the vast majority of dedicated car navigation units. Of course, the iPhone screen is smaller than the ones on most car units.

The tech blog will have a full review of the app, upcoming, but early buyers who posted online had one main complaint — the vocal directions on the TomTom iPhone app do not include street names.

At the June announcement of the product, TomTom said it also would make available a windshield mount for phone. No word yet on when that would be available or at what price.

BTW, if you still need convincing of the dangers of texting while driving, view this public service commercial recently released in the U.K. It does have graphic content: It takes a much stronger stomach than any slasher flick.

– David Colker in the Los Angeles Times