BREAKING NEWS
FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY, BRING YOUR POPCORN, JAFFAS, AND DRINKS, FOR AN EXPOSE ON WHO PULLED THE STRINGS OF BIG BUSINESS DURING THE DEPRESSION YEARS.
What caused the British Motorcycle industry to decline in the ’30s? Did British manufacturers suffer with a false sense of pride and security? Who was manipulating the BSA and The Midland Bank? Who built the Brough Superior Golden Dream? At the time of the depression who started a new business, building three-wheeled delivery vans? Who was Hanford Stevens? Where is the monument of the ‘lone rider’? Who played a key role in the success of a project which delivered seven hundred Beaufort bombers to the Royal Australian Air Force between August 1941 and August 1944?
Come and learn how one couple, who during the depression and later years, were referred to as the “gracelessly gaudy” and as “spendaholics”, created outlandishly expensive Daimler cars for their own pleasure. A couple whose reputation influenced the Queen to change from Daimler to Rolls Royce. A couple who influenced the catastrophic demise of the AJS manufacturing facility in Wolverhampton?
Come and hear how all these, behind the scenes, events are related and how they affected British manufacturing. Come and see how one British manufacturer fought to keep their family business alive during the depression years and to rise up out of the ashes of bankruptcy.
For one night only (As I will not have time, nor am qualified, to talk about how the depression affected the whole of the British Motorcycle industry), I will be answering all these questions with a focus on how the depression affected just one British motorcycle manufacturing family and how they survived.
Come along for an entertaining PowerPoint display of a ‘behind the scenes’ expose of how one couple’s wealth and decadence led to the downfall of at least one well-respected motorcycle company.
After listening to my evidence, you can draw your own conclusions as to the state of the rest of the motorcycling industry in Britain, both before and after the war.
Some failed, some specialized, some were Amalgamated, some were winners, and some losers…. In the end ….Who won?
I hope to see you soon
Regards………..David de Lapp
Liverpool City Library
Thursday 24th August
1:30 pm - 3:30 pm
No bookings are needed, tea and cuppa are provided.
This event is delivered in partnership with Liverpool U3A.
