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FIRST OVERLAND NEWSLETTER 48The latest news of the 'First Overland' DVD, based on Antony Barrington Brown's original film footage of the 1955 Oxford & Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition from London to Singapore, and the subsequent 'After Overland' adventures of the two cars. |
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There's no point in hiding the truth... it's been a long time since the last Newsletter. There are two reasons — I've had a pretty drastic change in my personal life, which caused me to take my eye well off the ball, and with 'Oxford' being the other side of the world in first New Zealand and now Australia, there's been no direct contact with what's been going on. But those who are in direct contact with the car in those places have also produced their own accounts, so the information is out there. SNX891 will be staying in Oz to be a focal point of their celebration of Land-Rover's 75th anniversary next year.
But this is a good time to be issuing a Newsletter, because Alex Bescoby's Grammar Productions 4-part TV series 'Last Overland' now has a transmission date in the UK, which you'll need to know about, along with the book of the expedition.
The 'Last Overland' team, with Tim Slessor
To remind you what happened — once Adam Bennett's restoration of 'Oxford' was completed, the car had been toured in the UK and Europe. Later it was shipped to the USA, which it traversed twice before heading 'down under'. But before that, picking up on something that Sir David Attenborough said about the impossibility of doing the original 1955/6 'First Overland' journey today, Alex got in touch with Tim Slessor and Adam to see if it was possible. 'Oxford' would be shipped out to Singapore, and then driven back to London, reversing the original route as far as it's possible in today's political situation. It would, in fact, re-do a bit that had been missed in 1956 — although they drove all the way through the Burmese jungle, they didn't come back by that road... they'd proved it could be done, but now there was the matter of their academic studies to be considered. The cars were shipped from Singapore to Calcutta and Rangoon, and only later met up to return together to the UK.
 Nat George |
It was planned that Tim would go with them, but unfortunately a health scare prevented him at the last minute. But fortuitously his grandson Nat George had just finished his university studies, and was able to go in his grandfather's place, keeping the link alive.
Some of the details of that journey back have already been covered in my Newsletters 41 and 42. |
But like the original journey, this was not a 'gallivant'. An important part of the reason behind this recreation would be a TV programme documenting the journey, investigating how the world has changed since the 'First Overland', and exploring themes of family ties, post-colonialism and the Land-Rover 'religion', so along with SNX891 there was a small film crew. Whereas Antony Barrington Brown ('BB') had only his wind-up 16mm mute film camera to work with, Grammar Productions could make full use of modern video cameras, and techniques. I'm particularly wanting (as a film-maker myself) to see how they've captured the epic journey back to the UK.
And soon I (and you) will be able to. It took a lot of time before Alex could get a properly-commissioned broadcast slot that would enable him to start editing the footage, but a year or so ago it came, and on September 29th there will be a launch party at the Royal Geographical Society in London... very appropriate, not only because it is the seat of expeditions, but also because it was there that the Signal Books reprint of 'First Overland' was launched, and where I interviewed Sir David Attenborough for my 'First Overland' film.
| The entire 4 part series will be made available on All4 (C4’s on-demand service) on October 3rd. Unfortunately that's only available in the UK (or for those with a VPN which makes it seem like they’re in the UK.) However, Alex is sure that Channel 4 will be waiting to see what the audience response is to the 'on demand' service, and could possibly give it a terrestrial repeat at some time in the future. Make sure you watch it (if you can) and bump the viewing figures up to convince them.
And for the rest of the world?... Alex says "We are already working on broadcast deals in numerous territories, including Aus, US etc., and will be making announcements about that as soon as we have news." Obviously I'll pass that on to you when I can. |
 Alex Bescoby |
But of course, there's also a book, to be launched at the same RGS event. Written by Alex, with a foreword by Tim Slessor, it's already been glowingly reviewed by Dame Joanna Lumley, TV historian Dan Snow, and author and adventurer Levison Wood. It's published by Michael O'Mara Books, and will be available from September 29th at £20 in hardback. It can be pre-ordered from Amazon. And if you're in the London area on September 29th you can get tickets to join the audience from Eventbrite for £10 or £15. Subscribers to the 'Last Overland' Newsletter will qualify for a discount.
| Although not directly anything to do with 'First Overland', I must pay tribute to Arthur Goddard, who's died in Brisbane, Australia at the age of 101. Without Arthur there would have been no Land-Rover, no 'First Overland', no SNX891, no 'Last Overland'... and nothing to talk about here!
Arthur was the Project Engineer of the original Land-Rover back in 1947, which the owners of the Rover Company, Maurice and Spencer Wilks. desperately needed in order to keep the company alive in the troubled years immediately after the Second Word War. Steel for car production was being severly rationed by the British Government, and was only available if the cars were going to sell overseas and bring in some desparately-needed foreign currency. Rover's cars traditionally sold well at home, but to a certain 'prestige' market — doctors, lawyers, bank managers and their like... driving a Rover conferred you status. But they didn't sell well abroad, and without something to market there, Rover was facing collapse. Maurice had been borrowing his neighbour's wartime Jeep to help him with work around the grounds of his house, and realised that when it died (as it ultimately would, having a design life of only a few months in wartime, and very prone to rust) there would be nothing to replace it. He and Spencer decided that such a vehicle could be the saving of the Rover Company, and famously drew the iconic shape with a stick in the sand at Red Wharf Bay in Anglesey. The car would use as many Rover car parts as was feasible, and only the chassis would be steel — the body would be aluminium... and not melted-down Spitfire fuselages as common myth suggested. Arthur had the job of taking the Wilks Brother's drawings, and turning them into a driveable, sellable vehicle — he and his team managed it in only a staggering 9 months. |  Arthur Goddard |
I had the immense priviledge in 2010 of meeting Arthur when he came back to visit his family in the UK. When he went to Australia to work for Lockheed Girling, he dropped off the radar in Land-Rover history, and it was only a very chance encounter with an enthusiast in Brisbane that led to him being honoured for what he had achieved. He was invited to visit the modern Land Rover factory in Lode Lane, Solihull, and a dinner was given in his honour. I was able to capture these important events on video, and we also visited many of the locations that were important in the story of the birth of the Land-Rover, for which Arthur was undoubtedly the 'midwife'. That became the full-length 'Stop Gap' DVD (and now an online stream), which not only told the story behind our favourite vehicle, but also busted many of the myths — like the 'Spitfire' one — that have grown up over the years. Arthur was the man who knew, for definite. Details of this, and my other Land-Rover films, can be found on the link at the bottom of this page.
With the sad passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 2nd, our TV screens have been filled with archive footage of her life, including pictures of her and Prince Philip on their Fifties tour of Australia, 'standing up' in the back of a Land-Rover. Well, Arthur played a big part in that, and as a transcript from the 'Stop Gap' script shows, he was able to experience a less-than-majestic side to palace life:
| AG | There was an order from the Palace for about 14 of them, cos she was doing a world tour, and these had to be stashed in these various places. And she’d be reviewing the troops, or trooping the colour, or whatever she does on her days out. We had the order placed on us, and Tickfords had the order placed on them for making the body. They’d made a sort of throne — a massive thing where she sort of sat in the back of this. It was like Rule Britannia on the penny. [Laugh] And we looked and said “Christ, you can’t do that, sitting up here like a Goon!” And it also cost about 30-thousand pounds a vehicle to do it. We said that she would look a lot better if she looked as though she was standing up when she really wasn’t. |
| Presenter (vo) | So they made the Queen a seat, which was really a round padded bar, which swung back out of the way so she could get past it. But the height had to be pretty precise — which was why Arthur and his colleagues found themselves early one morning at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. |
| AG | We were let in quite early, and we were parked on a bit of lawn, and a few minutes later these (sort of) French windows opened, and the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh came out, in their dressing gowns, would you believe, and slippers, chewing a piece of toast! [Laugh] They thought it was absolutely fantastic, you see… So I thought I’m in luck here, because I’ve got the Duke of Edinburgh, so I got the old Duke on one side, and I said “Look, this is the problem, you see, with this thing, that it’s got to be set right, and we’ve got to get the Queen somehow to sit on it and try it, and we can move it a bit…” And he said “My dear... Arthur wants to find out how far your bum is from the ground!” [Laugh] |
The left-hand pic shows Arthur on the right, with other members of the Rover team. I don't know whose copyright this is — probably now JLR — so apologies. Before I used this sequence in the film I wrote to the Buckingham Palace Press Office to run the script by them, and see if I could use it. They didn't say "Yes"... but then they didn't actually say "No" either, so it went in the film!
We've had a pretty rough couple of years globally, and aren't totally out of the wood now... not economically, politically nor health-wise. This sense of 'unease' has been heightened by the recent death of Her Majesty, and the proclamation of our new King, Charles 3rd. Wherever you are, and whatever your circumstances, I wish you well.
Keep safe.
GRAEME ALDOUS.
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Previous 'First Overland' Newsletters are available here.
To subscribe to this Newsletter, and receive notice of updates, please visit my Subscribe Page.
The 'After Overland' web page is afteroverland.co.uk, and 'First Overland' is teeafit.co.uk/firstoverland.
| And a reminder of my DVD titles still on sale, priced at £22 (including postage) worldwide — you can order them via the DVD sales page, where you'll also find the Vimeo streaming details, and of the Photobook of original 1955 expedition photos, put together by Adam Bennett. |  |