ONCE IN A LIFETIME: TURN LEFT - THE RIFFS HAVE RISEN

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RLucke
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Re: ONCE IN A LIFETIME: TURN LEFT - THE RIFFS HAVE RISEN

Post by RLucke »

Well done Chris! I must confess that it had crossed my mind to try and obtain a copy, but thought it impossible. Roger.
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Re: ONCE IN A LIFETIME: TURN LEFT - THE RIFFS HAVE RISEN

Post by Ian Grace »

Yes - great piece of research, Chris! I'll be fascinated to hear what you think of it.
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Re: ONCE IN A LIFETIME: TURN LEFT - THE RIFFS HAVE RISEN

Post by DF9053 »

Just finshed reading the book, a good read - quite a journey.

Do we know if any relatives of Gilg and Kay survive?

I think there should be a new VMR award, someone has suggested this elsewhere, the Gilg award for the furthest driven in a Minor to the summer rally. Perhaps we could get a brass Africa outline with the route engraved on it. Leaving the back for winners each year. What do you think?

Cheers
Jeremy
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Re: ONCE IN A LIFETIME: TURN LEFT - THE RIFFS HAVE RISEN

Post by chris lambert »

Jeremy,
If you were to change your mind and drive to this years rally, instead of spending all those Euros with our French cousins, you would win the 'Gilg Award' hands down. :wink: Coast to coast at the 'widest bit' must be 280 or 290 miles. A resume of your trip could be called 'Turn Right - and carry straight on......'
Your suggestion though is a really good one and would ensure the Vintage Minor community do not forget his exploits.
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Re: ONCE IN A LIFETIME: TURN LEFT - THE RIFFS HAVE RISEN

Post by DF9053 »

Chris.
We normally have quite a trip to the rallies, last year was 210 miles, coast to coast must be nearly 300 as you say. Shame about the clash of dates this year.

I think this would be an excellent way of marking the achievement of Gilg and Kay, mark thier place in VMR life as we have with Lewis and Nicholson.

Looking forward to the first Scottish summer rally!

cheers
Jeremy
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Re: ONCE IN A LIFETIME: TURN LEFT - THE RIFFS HAVE RISEN

Post by Ian Grace »

Agreed! I'll have a suitable Trophy made. Excellent idea. :D
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Re: ONCE IN A LIFETIME: TURN LEFT - THE RIFFS HAVE RISEN

Post by Ian Grace »

Gilg's expedition has been a favourite topic of Harry Edwards over the years, and I often find references in old MR Journals. He covered the trip comprehensively in an article in the Summer 1979 issue, but anticipated this with a snippet in the spring issue where he noted, "A recent non-event on television was the scheduled screening (on 30th January) of the story about Alan Cameron Gilg and Walter Kay who crossed the Sahara in 1933 using a Morris Minor four-seater. The report in the Yorkshire Television series "Once in a Lifetime" was replaced by a political discussion."

So presumably, this report is still in the Yorkshire Television TV archives somewhere?
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Re: ONCE IN A LIFETIME: TURN LEFT - THE RIFFS HAVE RISEN

Post by tonym »

Don't know about long trips in an early Morris - but I have done two trips round New England in my M-type. The last one was in 2006 - 2000 miles in 3 weeks - wonderful. Also do regular trips to Luxembourg [well every 3 years - it takes that time to recover]
A little off the pre-war Morris/Mg track - I have some New Zealand friends who are travelling in a "modern" car [to us, that is] - a 1940's MG TC from the most southern tip of South America to Alaska! They are currently in Brazil and won't finish until next year. Previusly some other Australian friends drove an MG TC around the globe!!
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Re: ONCE IN A LIFETIME: TURN LEFT - THE RIFFS HAVE RISEN

Post by Ian Grace »

I'd love to see a VMR New England raid - I'd take the Semi-sports from Michigan, and there are quite a few other VMR members in the USA now...
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Re: ONCE IN A LIFETIME: TURN LEFT - THE RIFFS HAVE RISEN

Post by Ian Grace »

I have finally made contact with Cameron Gilg's son who tells me that he has a copy of the ITV film made in 1978 just before his father's death and a bag containing his trip diary and numerous memoribilia. He has located the bag and it contains lots of atmospheric period stuff. A meeting in England will be arranged next July while we are over for the Summer Rally, which should prove absolutely fascinating.
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Re: ONCE IN A LIFETIME: TURN LEFT - THE RIFFS HAVE RISEN

Post by Ian Grace »

Now that contact has been made with Andrew Gilg, all sorts of interesting new information is beginning to flow, with very much more to come once all of his father's memorabilia have been copied - including his original trip diary, photographs, maps, etc.

Here's a few snippets for starters.

In the Foreword to the book, Gilg is referred to as a typical Englisman. This has been a bone of contention with Andrew, since his father was half Swiss! (The name is Swiss-German from his father.) And his other half is Scottish from his mother who was a Cameron.

Cameron Gilg's brother Gerry was in the RAF during the War and owned the Mercedez Benz garage in Moreton-in-Marsh, and used to hill climb at Prescott. His wife still lives in Moreton-in-Marsh.

When the car was returned to England, it was put on display by Morris at Stewart & Ardern in Mayfair, and when Cameron asked for payment, he was refused!

Cameron's original 16 mm cine films were given to Barry Cockroft of Yorkshire TV for the making of the film, but were even then (in 1978) in very poor condition, leaivng just enough footage to make the TV programme. Barry has since died and so these films may have been lost to history. However, Cameron has the TV programme and will transfer it to DVD for us.

Andrew is keeping Saturday 21st July 2012 clear in his diary for our Summer Rally, so those coming to the Rally will have the opportunity to meet him. Appropriately, he will be presenting, for the first time, a new long diatance award to the Minor driving the furthest to the Rally. This will probably take the form of a brass plate mounted on a wooden plinth with an etched map of the Liverpool to Capetown route on it. Should look nice on the sideboard.
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Re: ONCE IN A LIFETIME: TURN LEFT - THE RIFFS HAVE RISEN

Post by chris lambert »

Prior to the 2008 VMR Rally in East Anglia I contacted Yorkshire T.V or their successors who at that time still had the master of the 1978 TV film and were quite prepared to commit it to DVD for hire. The fee was something like £100 for a weeks hire and so I gave it a miss. Almost certainly it will still be in their archives.
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Re: ONCE IN A LIFETIME: TURN LEFT - THE RIFFS HAVE RISEN

Post by Ian Grace »

Hi Chris,

Thanks for that - I'm sure it has laid there undisturbed at that sort of price! With the finding of the 'original' there is now the prospect of getting copies for the cost of a blank DVD, since Andrew has the film rights. And I can't wait to see what else he has tucked away in his father's stuff.

Now to find Walter Kay's descendents, which I will follow up through the de Havilland Moth Club as Kay was a DH man.
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Re: ONCE IN A LIFETIME: TURN LEFT - THE RIFFS HAVE RISEN

Post by Ian Grace »

So here's Kay's Puss Moth:

2203 Regd G-ABSA [CofR 3479] 12.11.31 to Walter Kay, Liverpool (based Stag Lane). CofA 3262 issued 19.11.31. Regn cld 10.32 as crashed.

All ties in with the Postscript in Gilg's book:

"After a hair-raising trip to Africa at the age of seventeen during which his best friend (and sole companion) died on a hunting trip in the bush, Walter returned home to gain his pilot's license in record time and join the star-studded flying school run in the early days of aviation by de Havilland's, the firm which designed and manufactured so many superb aircraft. Among Walter's contemporaries at the school were Amy Johnson, Jim Mollison, Gordon Storr, and Jean Batten, all of whom he knew well.

His proud father spend GBP 1,750 buying him a Puss Moth, which indirectly turned out to be no favour at all. Anxious to make commercial use of the gift, he turned down offers to attempt the kind of aviation records which made his companions at the flying school into celebrities, and instead accepted a contract to use his Puss Moth to film the first air mail flight by Imperial Airways from London to Capetown in 1930. The film shot from his cockpit, Wings over Africa, became a classic of its kind.

Walter fell in love with Africa and stayed there with his plane. He joined de Havilland's in Johannesburg and happily trained pilots for them.

Then he was asked one day to fly to Portuguese East Africa to pick up an injured man - and the course of his life changed dramatically. He ran into a violent thunder storm, which completely obliterated his vision and he collided with a radio mast, slicing off one wing. When they found him, both arms and both legs were broken and the rest of his body wounded. Walter was hospitalized for six months, and still bears the scars [this was written in 1978 - Kay is now long-deceased].

So, Walter Kay limped back home to England and was found by Gilg "eating his head off for lack of something to do". We know the rest of the story."
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Re: ONCE IN A LIFETIME: TURN LEFT - THE RIFFS HAVE RISEN

Post by Ian Grace »

So I have a very old friend, Tim Williams, of about 25 years who has a Puss Moth - G-AAZP, and he has jumped at the chance to bring it to Prescott next July for us. Tim and 'ZP are no strangers to very long-distance flying, Tim having flown this 1930 aircraft from England to Australia in 1985, but more about that anon.

The DH 80 Puss Moth was the first enclosed model in the Moth series of highly sucessful light aircraft built by de Havillands between the wars. It was a true gentleman's carriage by contemporary open cockpit standards. There is only a handful left, and I think that there is only one other currently airworthy in the UK.

So this is our first air asset for Pre-War Prescott 2012, and should absolutely add to the pre-war atmosphere of the day.

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