The voice of L J K Setright
Discussion
thepeoplespal said:
I still miss Motor and its columnists, in an era when I devoured each and every car magazine on the oh so full magazine stands of my youth. Motorbike magazines had to suffice when I'd bought and read all that month's car magazines and the furtherest I got into motorbiking on the road was a Vespa, the Suzuki Scrambler doesn't count.
LJK Setright use to write a column in Bike magazine in the 70s, was a great read.Those of us who were children in the 1960s may recall the Setright ticket machine, a strange looking metal contraption of cogs and wheels that hung heavily from straps slung over the shoulders of a bus conductor, who would do some mysterious whirling and clicking with the machine, and produce a detailed printed ticket for you, in return for some small pre-decimal coins that he or she would put into a leather satchel. The machine can be seen in use in films of the period.
Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 6th March 10:44
carinaman said:
Breadvan72 said:
runnerbean 14 said:
Just reviving this thread, as Setright's beloved Bristol Cars have gone tits up.
This happens every 25 minutes, doesn’t it? How many bust outs and re-boots have they had now?I still want a 410, but I am not posh enough.
https://themarket.co.uk/listings/bristol/603/9a01f...
...
Yes, and those are basically BMWs! After WW2, Bristol, which had made Blenheims and Beaufighters for the RAF, was rewarded with war reparations in the form of BMW's tools and jigs and drawings, or at least so I have been told. I cannot afford a copy of the Setright book to check whether or not this is an urban myth. I shall consult the book the next time that I am in the RAC Library.
I take the point about the V8 Bristols being rather crude things, with crude engines and transmissions, and they are awkward looking in some ways (the French might say "jolie laide"), but I still have a yen for one, despite not being any sort of gentleman and therefore not eligible to enter the Bristol showroom*. I add that, when I had a 1970 Jensen Interceptor**, I tested it against a 1970 Bristol and a 1970 Aston, and, owner-bias apart, the Jensen was in 1970 the best driving car of the three, and by a long way the best looking. Later, the Bristols and Astons became better.
*They have a buzzer that goes off when it detects social mobility, and a large, forbidding Sergeant Major type who says "Oi you! Out!."
** A proper cad car, for the self-made bloke with a few notes.
I take the point about the V8 Bristols being rather crude things, with crude engines and transmissions, and they are awkward looking in some ways (the French might say "jolie laide"), but I still have a yen for one, despite not being any sort of gentleman and therefore not eligible to enter the Bristol showroom*. I add that, when I had a 1970 Jensen Interceptor**, I tested it against a 1970 Bristol and a 1970 Aston, and, owner-bias apart, the Jensen was in 1970 the best driving car of the three, and by a long way the best looking. Later, the Bristols and Astons became better.
*They have a buzzer that goes off when it detects social mobility, and a large, forbidding Sergeant Major type who says "Oi you! Out!."
** A proper cad car, for the self-made bloke with a few notes.
Britain has a culture of anti-intellectualism, and populism disapproves of education and the educated. Standards of writing, and levels of general knowledge amongst both generalist and specialist journalists have reduced significantly in the last few decades. In addition, journalists can no longer assume that their readers have a minimum level of education that will enable them to pick up allusions to history, art, music, and literature, because State education has become modular, and is all about tick the box, teach to the test, perform to a target. I was lucky to have a State school education in the 60s and 70s, and free* university in the 80s, so I "get" Setright. As noted above, some of his stuff was self-parody.
* Not actually free, of course. My parents had paid a bunch of tax, and I later paid a whole bunch more.
* Not actually free, of course. My parents had paid a bunch of tax, and I later paid a whole bunch more.
Setright was, I suppose, a contrarian, and contrarians can be very irritating, and are often plain wrong. But a contrarian, if he or she does it right (see Christopher Hitchens for example) can be fun. I think that Setright knew that his style wound some people up, and he increasingly spoofed his own style in order further to wind up those who would be wound up by such things.
Touring442 said:
If you are unfortunate enough to watch popular TV programmes (I don't possess a set myself) you'll know that the lowest common denominator prevails these days. It says something when anything seventies with Bruce Forsyth is witty and cutting edge by current standards.
Modern journos are just identikit now. They must order them from the net.
Called Ben, trendy beard, trendy jeans, has a dog, is naturally a driving God, uses the word 'focussed' far too often, starts every f
king sentence without an 'I".
"walked into my local dealer last week".
"Had an epiphany last week"
Oh just fk off.
Ben wouldn't know where to start changing a head gasket or a wheel bearing because they don't actually know anything about cars apart from their own opinions which are utterly worthless in isolation anyway. Their writing is noisy and tiring.
Good story: LJKS attended the UK launch of the Cortina Mark 4 (so 1976) in the Yorkshire Dales and drove a 2.0 S model so fast over Greenhow Hill that it had all four 185/70's off the ground. An absolutely fearsome and fearless driver. He remains to me the absolute doyen of car writers, yet to be approached let alone surpassed.
Spot on.Modern journos are just identikit now. They must order them from the net.
Called Ben, trendy beard, trendy jeans, has a dog, is naturally a driving God, uses the word 'focussed' far too often, starts every f
king sentence without an 'I". "walked into my local dealer last week".
"Had an epiphany last week"
Oh just f
k off.Ben wouldn't know where to start changing a head gasket or a wheel bearing because they don't actually know anything about cars apart from their own opinions which are utterly worthless in isolation anyway. Their writing is noisy and tiring.
Good story: LJKS attended the UK launch of the Cortina Mark 4 (so 1976) in the Yorkshire Dales and drove a 2.0 S model so fast over Greenhow Hill that it had all four 185/70's off the ground. An absolutely fearsome and fearless driver. He remains to me the absolute doyen of car writers, yet to be approached let alone surpassed.
What you call ramblings others call an acclaimed play by a distinguished writer (most of the post consists of an extended quotation from a translation or adaptation of the work of a French author called Rostand). You appear to exemplify the robust pride in ignorance and hostility to learning that appear sadly characteristic of some Brits.
Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 11th March 09:43
I doubt that I would have liked Setright if I had met him, but he had an engaging written and ,judging by the photos, personal style, and as noted before here was probably at least partly engaged in sending himself up.
As for scayree fast driving, my late brother was one of those people who could drive you very fast but never make you feel unsafe, and maybe Setright was one of those drivers. I do not possess that ability, so I tend only to drive fast when there is only me to scare.
As for scayree fast driving, my late brother was one of those people who could drive you very fast but never make you feel unsafe, and maybe Setright was one of those drivers. I do not possess that ability, so I tend only to drive fast when there is only me to scare.
It is sunny. I may go for a careful hoon. But .... every trip involves some risk, even small, of breaking down or crashing, and it's not fair on RAC dudes or ambulance crews to expose them to the risk of interaction. So, maybe not. I may dig out my ancient Car magazines and read some Setright instead.
|https://thumbsnap.com/1SgtgOBE[/url]
I add that the Grand Prix Car book is a bit too techie for my un techie head in places, but it is very interesting, and contains many fine photos of fabulous cars and cool drivers and designers etc. It describes the end of the front-engined cars, the introduction of the mid-engined cars, the introduction of fuel injection, big changes in wheels and tyres, and much else besides.
rosetank said:
A self taught engineer is just someone not bright enough to be a student. Therefore, in engineering terms, unqualified and to be viewed with caution.
You must therefore regard Isambard Kingdom Brunel as rather dim and to be viewed with caution.You may say that the use of language does not matter, but, as you attack Setright for his language, you could maybe try not to write in a randomly punctuated screed, such as your longer post above.
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