Walter Owen Bentley – WO to those who knew him – did not start out as an automobile engineer but worked on heavier engineering. Born on 16 September 1888 at Hampstead, London he was the youngest of nine children of Alfred and Emily Bentley. WO Bentley was educated at Clifton College, Bristol from 1902 until 1905 when he left to start work as an apprentice at the Doncaster Locomotive Works of the Great Northern Railway. Here he learned his engineering skills and by 1909 was ready to experience his childhood ambition to operate a steam locomotive; this came true and he became a fireman on locomotives out of London King’s Cross.
Like many young men of the time, Bentley acquired a motorcycle, a 3hp Quadrant and used it daily in Doncaster. Becoming a proficient rider, in 1907 he entered the 400-mile London to Edinburgh Trial, staged by the Motor Cycling Club. These early motorcycles were prone to problems and Bentley had his fair share of them en route but he reached Edinburgh just before the scheduled deadline, and so qualified for a gold medal in his first sporting trial. On leaving the Great Northern Railway, WO acquired a DFP (Doriot, Flandrin & Parant) motor car; made in France it was quite a sporty machine and in 1912 WO, with his brother HM, bought the UK agency for DFP and registered Bentley and Bentley as sole agents. The marque was popular and, with WO driving, was seen in various sporting events.
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THE FEW ON SCREEN
Steven Taylor looks at the Battle of Britain across film and TV
Table Service
Rachel Toy looks at the history of Ridgway Homemaker tableware
Hever Forever
Claire Saul studies the newly refurbished Boleyn Apartment at Hever Castle & Gardens - a castle fit for a queen
Shining a Light
Tony O’Neil tunes into the history of the last manned lightvessel
The Man With the Goldeneye
Film stills photographer Keith Hamshere describes how he came to enter the world of James Bond
THE ORIGINAL GOLDEN BALLS
lan Wheeler looks back on 70 years of Tiger comic and Roy of the Rovers, and chats to the man who edited and oversaw both titles
To Play the Queen
Chris Hallam looks back on the life of one of the UK’s best known lookalikes
POOLING RESOURCES
Martin Handley looks at what life was like after the Vernons Girls
POSTCARD FROM= SUSSEX
Bob Barton indulges in pleasure piers and fairground delights, as well as fulfilling a long-held ambition to visit the home of Rudyard Kipling
Oh, Miss Jones
Chris Hallam looks back at the origins and legacy of Rising Damp, ITV's most successful sitcom