The Bullnose and the Rats: a comic scene from Brands Hatch

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Every now and then when browsing an old magazine, one comes across a photograph which takes one a little by surprise, and so it was when the Editor noticed this shot of a very early Bullnose Morris motoring gently along the finishing straight of Brands Hatch. The photograph appeared in an edition of Speedworld International, a short-lived magazine (published during 1968 only) which was otherwise stuffed with pictures of celeritous sports cars attacking the Nürburgring, Minis on two wheels and Grand Prix single-seaters flying by in a blur.

The Morris appeared at a race meeting of the Maidstone & Mid-Kent Motor Club at Brands Hatch in May, 1968, where an additional attraction was the appearance of the Grand Order of Water Rats, a charitable organisation populated by the leading lights of British showbusiness. Hence Cambrian crooner Tom Jones squeezed himself into the cockpit of a Formula Ford, breakfast radio star Tony Blackburn was paraded about in an E-type Jaguar, and the velvet-voiced King Rat Frankie Vaughan presented the trophies to the successful racers.

With the knowledge that this was a fundraising occasion, and that it was to be occupied by a sort of slapstick comic figure, the presence of the bright yellow c.1913 Morris Oxford now makes a bit more sense. It's been brought out to provide a platform for a parade lap with a certain Mr. Pastry, whose name does not shine forth brightly through the mists of time, but he was once quite the celebrity. Pastry—real name Richard Hearne—had been a leading children's entertainer for many years. One of the very first people to be deemed a "television star" in Britain, with his own dedicated series, he garnered laughs through his depiction of a crusty, retired colonel sort of figure with his floppy moustache and inseparable bowler hat.

No doubt a rickety old veteran car was considered precisely the right vehicle to suit Mr. Pastry's conspicuously antiquated appearance but, as owners of Bullnose Morrises will be very much aware, they're perfectly robust machines, and AY 3884 wasn't doing badly considering it was 55 years old at the time. It was actively rallied in the 1960s and is still on the road today.

Words: Zack Stiling
Photograph: Gerry Stream for Speedworld Ltd.
 

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