1914 is the cut-off point for my book. Neat, because that’s 100 years ago, but the book does stray a little bit beyond that date at times. The cycles and automobiles chapter, for instance, mentions the Great War. There are […]
Continue ReadingMy (very) forthcoming book has a long, detailed article about the cycling back-stories behind a great many automobile brands, including GMC, Ford, Land Rover and 77 others. I’m including a quote from libertarian American satirist P.J. O’Rourke. He’s not a […]
Continue ReadingJean-Jacques Sempé – France’s most celebrated cartoonist – likes bicycles, perhaps because one of his first jobs was delivering wine by bicycle through the rolling hills of the Gironde. He has drawn them many times, most famously for The New […]
Continue Reading1893 advert, Good Roads magazine, published by the League of American Wheelmen. Trivia: Hollywood’s bawdy actress Mae West is popularly thought to have said “Is that a gun [or pistol] in your pocket, or are you just glad to see […]
Continue ReadingHistory books have long said that Thomas Woodrow Wilson, the President of the United States during and three years after the First World War, was a huge fan of the automobile. “No more ardent motorist ever occupied the White House […]
Continue ReadingThe Dutch bike – the omafiets, or grandmother bike – seems to be as Dutch as tulips and clogs. Just as tulips and clogs are not Dutch (tulips were first commercially grown in Persia and wooden shoes are global) the […]
Continue ReadingWhy hasn’t the UK got Dutch-style cycle networks in every town, city and village? Partly it’s down to culture: the Netherlands has had 100+ years of bicycle-based national identification. This is so strong that the Dutch bike – the omafiets, […]
Continue ReadingScotland’s Transport Minister Keith Brown has unveiled a “ground-breaking” new campaign aimed at road users. The £500,000 promotional campaign for the ‘Niceway Code’ launches on 5th August and will use posters and TV ads to ask motorists, cyclists and pedestrians […]
Continue Reading“I believe that in certain towns and cities where the trade and commerce demand it, we shall have to make secondary and alternative roads for trade and commercial vehicles alone if the public is to be protected from the risks […]
Continue ReadingLondon. Late evening of July 16th, 1898. “We’re nearing Millbank Penitentiary, at last,” said Sherlock Holmes. Dr Watson, familiar with his friend’s powers of deduction nevertheless expressed his surprise. “How the deuce do you know that?” he said. “I can’t […]
Continue Reading