Happy All Hallows Eve

With thanks to The Spectator

Plus three of my favourite classic horror films - Nosferatu, Frankenstein/Bride of Frankenstein, and The Mummy:



Have a spooktacularly vintage night, everyone!

1894 Roper Motorbike Aims at World Auction Record

1894 Roper Motorbike Aims at World Auction Record

I wrote almost two years ago about the auction of a rare example of what is generally considered to be the world's first motorcycle - the 1894 Hildebrand & Wolfmüller.  Now one of the few remaining examples of its main competitor at the time is about to be auctioned off; a similar machine which used a different propulsion system that would eventually bow to the superior internal combustion engine - the Roper Steam-Propelled Bicycle.

If contemporary accounts are anything to go by it would seem that the Roper was more than a match for any petrol-powered motorised bicycle of the time.  Forty miles an hour in 1894 was not to be sniffed at, and it must have been quite a thrill puffing along at such a speed atop such a contraption.  Too much of a thrill for its elderly inventor, it would seem, considering what eventually happened to him(!).  One wonders if the technology could ever have been refined enough to make it practicable.  As it turned out, though, in the end internal combustion won the day and steam power ceased to be used in such small configurations.

So rare is this early pseudo-motorbike that the auction house involved can't seem to agree on a reserve price, referencing a contemporaneous steam-powered car that recently sold for $4.2million (£2.6m) and the current holder of the record for the world's most expensive motorcycle - a 1915 petrol-powered Cyclone that went for $502,000 (£313k) three years ago.  It may well be, therefore, that we are about to witness the world's first $1,000,000+ motorcycle (if it can be argued that a steam-powered bicycle comes under the definition of a motorcycle).  Either way, an interesting piece of motoring history is about to change hands.

Ceredigion Museum gives away vintage clothes collection

Image courtesy of the B.B.C.

Ceredigion Museum gives away vintage clothes collection

Taxi to Ceredigion please!  Quick as you can, driver!

Honestly, I've been dreaming about something like this for years.  Years, I tell you!  Many's the time I've thought of Granada TV auctioning off the wardrobe from Jeeves & Wooster or Poirot, and the wondrous clothes of Bertie Wooster and Captain Hastings that could be mine.  And now that something very much like that is actually happening, it's on the other bloomin' side of the country!  Tchah!

Image courtesy of the Ceridigion Museum

In reality the headline is slightly misleading - it really needs "to the National Trust and other groups" tacking on the end of it.  I don't really think that you or I could just roll up to the Ceredigion Museum and go, "I'll have that... and that... oh, and that as well...", more's the pity(!).  Still, it might help soothe the bitter sting of disappointment to know that at least the massive collection of 17,000 garments will continue to be appreciated - and what's more, used - by the likes of the National Trust, local community groups and schools.  That at least ensures that they can go on being appreciated by people and, importantly, children throughout the area.  Plus it looks like fashion designers are taking a welcome active interest in the styles of the late Victorian and early Edwardian periods for inspiration in their creations of today, which must be a good thing if it means we'll see some of our favourite fashions on the high street at some point in the future.

Warner Bros & Downey Jr team for 'Perry Mason'

Warner Bros.& Downey Jr team for 'Perry Mason'

Fellow fans of Erle Stanley Gardner's eponymous attorney will be interested to read this "exclusive" from entertainment magazine Variety, I should think.  If you're anything like me you'll have fond memories of the 1950s series and later 1980s & 1990s TV movies starring the great Raymond Burr, and one has to wonder if even Robert Downey Jr - who admittedly seems to be at the height of his powers - can follow him.  But if anyone can manage it, perhaps it is Downey Jr.  Everything he's in seems to be box office gold at the moment, from the Iron Man series to the new Sherlock Holmes (sequel's coming in December - I can't wait!) and having watched the opening credits of the Fifties serial a few times, particularly that knowing smile of Burr's, I can see Downey Jr there as well.

Only time will tell if Mr Downey Jr can bring success to a new (series of?) Perry Mason film(s), but the fact that it will apparently be set in the 1930s, as Gardner's original books were, should give it a certain individual cachet - certainly among the likes of us, at least!  A real, gritty Thirties feel combined with Gardner's excellent plots, modern production values and Downey Jr's acting skills could make this a roaring success.

So what do you think?  Is Robert Downey Jr the right choice to play Perry Mason?  If not, who would you like to see in the role?  What about the supporting cast - Mason's secretary Della Street, private eye Paul Drake, and district attorney Hamilton Burger - any ideas for actors/actresses?

How Victorian engineers almost built an underwater tunnel between Scotland and Ireland

How Victorian engineers almost built an underwater tunnel between Scotland and Ireland

This story has been reported by various news sites, including the B.B.C., but by far the best and most comprehensive description is from science [fiction] blog io9.

As anyone who has crossed the Irish Sea will tell you, a train journey (or, these days, an aeroplane flight) is infinitely more preferable to a ferry crossing and this was obviously very much the case even a hundred years ago.  It should come as no surprise therefore that the industrially-minded Victorians seriously considered a series of railway tunnels beneath the Irish Sea; the idea of a Channel Tunnel had been mooted almost a century earlier so the intent was clearly there.  Regrettably in both cases the huge engineering challenge would prove too great for Victorian science to overcome.  Nevertheless that such a plan was drawn up is a remarkable testament to the technological ambition and farsightedness of 19th Century engineers.

The suggestion of tunnels between mainland Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man still occasionally appears even today.  But it was the Victorians who first thought of the idea even though they, and subsequent supporters of the scheme, were always stymied by the matter of cost, politics and now a difference in the railway gauge.  It's not to say that the project is unfeasible, however, and I'm sure the vision will still be revisited in the future and - who knows? - maybe even undertaken.

Saturday Evening Fervour

I say! Get down and boogie, what?! Now where are my Oxford bags...?



Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone.

1930 Model A Ford Wraps a Year on the Road

Image courtesy of Autoblog/Zach Bowman

1930 Model A Ford Wraps a Year on the Road

Speaking of keeping vintage machinery running, here's a chap who took that to heart and then some!  A true enthusiast, Mr Jonathan Klinger has been running his Model A Ford for a whole year; proof, if proof were needed, that these cars can and should be used on a regular basis.  And aside from a few mechanical hiccoughs that were perhaps to be expected in an 81-year-old car it has performed well in all weathers, taking whatever was thrown at it in its stride - be that a 270-mile journey to Detroit or driving to a friend's in a snowstorm.

Mr Klinger has also discovered the joys of a more relaxed, simple motoring attitude, avoiding major roads and visiting small independent roadside eateries instead of garish chains - much like the first owner of the car would have done.

All-in-all a jolly good episode of the kind of thing I favour.  Well done to Mr Klinger, and I hope he continues to enjoy motoring in his durable Model A.