There’s already a lot to see in 1954, including Motor Cycling’s report of the 50th anniversary Edinburgh Run. The report includes a retrospective on what the Green ‘Un reckoned was the first sporting event and. not surprisingly, features some fine images from previous Edinburgh Runs. All fine and dandy, but I couldn’t resist inserting them in their respective years which burned up at least a pint of midnight oil. If you’re as obsessive as I am you’ll find the new/old images in 1904, 1906, 1908, 1909 and 1927.

As promised, and thanks entirely to the IT nous of my esteemed progeny Harry (hello Nozzer), Melange V is now accessible via the main menu. As promised, it carries the surplus (from le mélange original) images from the Great War and our colonies in the Americas. Should Melange IV fill up I’ll also use Melange V for general images of motor cycles and motor cycling. Meanwhile I’m back at work on 1954, where you’ll find roadtests of what we used to call a noddy bike (LE Velo to you, sonny) and the mighty 150cc version of the Bantam, as well as a report on the Brussels show and a reader’s letter in praise of shiny black rubber. Innocent times. I’m adding yarns to 1954 on an almost daily basis (depending on how guilty I feel about neglecting much needed work on the A10, M21, M100 and Triton) so feel free to watch that space. ttfn

Well that was a bit of a slog, but lots of fun. The towering pile of pics from mon esteemed ami Francois has all but been absorbed into Les Melanges; the remainder are dated and will be slotted into their respective years. Highlights include more than 150 pics of American bikes and their riders which you’ll find at the start of the forthcoming Melange V which will appear in the main menu soon. This page also has dozens of Great War pics—the original Melange page with its huge selection of US and WW1 pics is full. Loads more WW2 pics have ben added to the WW2 Gallery; the usual random mix of bikes and riders have been slotted into Melange IV. Confused? Me too. Just think of Les Melanges as boxes of pics of bikes, motor cyclists, dealers, sporting events and anything else to do with the great obsession. I’m now busy on the main timeline, which means 1954. See you there.

More images are being added to Melange IV every day as I chip away at the backlog; by way of variety I’ve uploaded some more Edwardian advertising posters including this one, which says as much about French attitudes during La Belle Époque as it does about the quality of their drive chains.

…so there I was happily uploading pics to les melanges when I was presented with a splendid cache of yarns and pics from 1906, including results from the ACC End-to-End trial (“Of the 75 starters from Land’s End on Monday in the long trip from end to end of Great Britain, 35 competitors reached John o’ Groats on Saturday evening in the annual reliability trial promoted by the Auto-Cycle Club…”); an interview with Indian designer Oscar Hedstrom who dropped in to visit The Motor Cycle‘s London HQ; and this rather charming report: “The Birmingham MCC held a very novel competition on Saturday, the 30th ult, viz, a slow hill-climb for motor bicycles with single gears and no clutches, pedalling not allowed. Tho committee had fixed the above date as a ladies’ day, and in order to provide something to amuse the visitors, the above happy idea was hit upon.” You’ll also find lots more ads, including…

Before getting stuck into 1954 I plan to tackle the picture backlog. I’ve made a start by adding a dozen or so images to “ARTWORK/HUMOUR”; here’s a brace of shell ads to whet your appetite.

Blimey that was a slog. All the material I’ve accumulated from 1953, when ERII was crowned and your ‘umble scribe rolled off the production. line, awaits your attention. I (more accurately countwordsfree.com) have just checked, and am mildly surprised to find nigh on 200,000 words as well as oodles of pics. It was a busy year. Before ploughing into 1954 I’ll take some time out to whittle away at the many (many!) hundreds of pics, most from mon ami Francois, in the swollen pending files and will also indulge myself down a number of rabbit holes—starting with letters written in 1927 by Oily Karslaske giving a blow-by-blow history of the Dreadnought. I might even find time to work on at least one of the four Brits that are languishing in the reserve fleet. Meanwhile, here are a couple titbits from that glorious year. As always…enjoy!

Head down, working through the blue ‘un’s monstrously thick 1953 show report, and I realised I hadn’t posted any updates for many weeks. So here’s an update: the timeline’s progressed to autumn on 1953 and I hope to have completed the year within the next couple of weeks. More than 100 pics have been uploaded to Melange 4 and some additions have been made to 1900. My favourite feature of 1953, which I’ve been looking forward to showing you, is Vic Willoughby’s tale of his 150mph run along Pendine Sands aboard the awesome Nero. It really is a treat.

Busy busy…forgot to mention, the updates to 1949-1952 are now completed and there’s oodles of good yarns and pics ready for browsing. And I’m about two thirds of the way through 1953 with, so far, more than 120,000 words with gawd knows how many pics. Roadtests of Triumph, Beeza and Norton twins, the TT, a blazing row over the German GP, heated readers’ letters opposing the threat of a skidlid law 20 years before the anti-helmet law campaign that even got me on the streets, lots of suggested Latin mottos for the ACU, an ACU Rally that left a lots of riders distinctly unimpressed. I’ve also made a tiny reduction in the number of pics aw`aiting includes in Les Melanges; as well as a good assortment in Melange 4 you find some excellent new images from WW2 courtesy of arch archivist Francois. Merci bien, mon ami. Nuff said, back to burn some more midnight oil in 1953…ttfn.

As promised, I’ve been collating stories from 1953. Then a friend came up with a fab stack of old Blue ‘Uns including a 1949 Earls Court Show issue and a random cutting from the Daily Express warning of ‘Hot Rod Jockeys’ blasting round the streets of New York at 125. So now 1949 includes a comprehensive show report (including the debut of the Gold Flash and the Thunderbird) and a report that “one electric light pole still has a rider’s shin bone embedded in it”. Before I move on to 1953 I’ll be extracting lots more yarns for 1950, 1951 and 1952; watch this space for progress reports.