A family of Bluebirds

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The story starts with great-grandfather Sir Malcolm Campbell MBE born March 11th 1885. At the age of 27, 100 years ago, he watched the Maurice Maeterlinck play ‘The Blue Bird’, which is a fairy story about  children searching for happiness, which always seems to be just out of reach. Campbell was so taken with the play that on the way home he woke up the local ironmonger, bought every tin of blue paint and painted his race car blue. The next day he drove the car with the paint still wet to Brooklands, christened the car ‘Blue Bird’ and won his first race! Malcolm went on to break the Land Speed Record a total of 9 times and the Water Speed Record 4 times. His son, Donald, took over the ‘family’ business of record breaking both on land and on water. His daughter Gina, posing here with the Sunbeam 350 Hp in which Malcolm Cambell set his first record on Pendine Sands on 25 September 1924, also broke the Woman’s World Water Speed Record at 122.8mph in the Agfa Bluebird II in 1984. Next to her is Don Wales, the son of Jean Wales (nee Campbell) who’s about to attempt the UK Land Speed Record for an Electric Car. And the family doesn’t stop here, as Don’s son Joe is also involved in the “family business”.
 

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