THE Land Rover is such a sturdy and enduring British symbol that it’s per-haps little surprise it makes a brief appearance in one of our better war films, Ice Cold in Alex (1958), starring John Mills and Sylvia Syms. The only problem, as many have gleefully pointed out, is that the film’s action is set in 1942, fully six years before the first vehicles rolled out onto the market.
There is, however, a wartime link in the story behind its creation. In 1947, Maurice Wilks, technical director of the Rover car company, took possession of an ex-US Army Willys Jeep, one of America’s first mass-produced military vehicles. Wilks found the four-wheel drive very useful for heavy jobs around his home near Leamington Spa, such as clearing fallen trees brought down in the gales of one of the hardest British winters on record. However, accessing spare parts was an issue. Wilks remarked that if he was incapable of designing something comparable to the Jeep, he was in the wrong job. He also recognised that there was a gap in the market for a utilitarian farmer’s vehicle of this type that could be sold on the valuable export market, so he began sketching out ideas for his own version.
Denne historien er fra October 20, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra October 20, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
