Discussion
LJKS gone within weeks of Phil Llewellin?! Leonard was his own man, an iconic figure for those who read "Car" up until 10 years ago. There was a time (around 1989-92) when "Car" frontline columnists consisted of the late LJKS, the late Russell Bulgin, the late George Bishop, and the late Phil Llewellin. Very sad indeed.....
>> Edited by godders75 on Friday 9th September 14:15
>> Edited by godders75 on Friday 9th September 14:15
As an American enthusiast, LJK Setright defined the difference between British Motor-industry journalism and the tepid American version. One of his articles, passed to me by a friend, that introduced me to Car magazine - from that moment, I was hooked. It was a sad day when he put down his pen - let's raise a glass...
Just got back from France home of LJKs beloved Citroens. It was his writing on active suspensions that prompted me to buy my XM.
CAR was a pivotal magazine and as other correspondents have mentioned the loss of all of the good old, and not so old, boys is a sad day
Fondly remembered
Roger
CAR was a pivotal magazine and as other correspondents have mentioned the loss of all of the good old, and not so old, boys is a sad day
Fondly remembered
Roger
godders75 said:
LJKS gone within weeks of Phil Llewellin?! Leonard was his own man, an iconic figure for those who read "Car" up until 10 years ago. There was a time (around 1989-92) when "Car" frontline columnists consisted of the late LJKS, the late Russell Bulgin, the late George Bishop, and the late Phil Llewellin. Very sad indeed.....
>> Edited by godders75 on Friday 9th September 14:15
Quite a few of those guys used to write in the 1980's for "Motor" my all time favourite car magazine (swallowed up by Autocar unfortunately). As a 13 year old CAR reader I really struggled to understand LJKS writing, but his writing introduced me to Bristol, NSU Ro 80, Citroen DS and many other makes I would never have heard of otherwise.
I have been wondering for years whether Setright was dead. It seems a shame to those of us brought up on columns we didn't understand, but knew we should at least try to, that most of today's motoring journalism seems to be written by men for the wanking demographic of 11-17 year olds, deliberately erasing any challenge or requirement of knowledge or even ambition from the text.
Will we see any mention of LJKS's passing in the monthlies ? Even EVO, which I always thought would have suited him best, has done away with its 3 opinion pages in favour of a single column by Clarkson's puppetmaster Porter. I doubt it.
Will we see any mention of LJKS's passing in the monthlies ? Even EVO, which I always thought would have suited him best, has done away with its 3 opinion pages in favour of a single column by Clarkson's puppetmaster Porter. I doubt it.
Very sad. One of the reasons I love cars so much was reading his stuff in Car magazine. His annoyance at Ferdinand Porsche nicking Hans Ledwinka (Tatra) designs always made me chuckle, and his love of his Honda Prelude was always a mystery to me.
RIP Leonard.
BTW, was he Amish or Orthodox Jew, or was his appearance a personal choice? Strange to be writing and loving such consumptive products if his faith was the former. Anyone know the story?
RIP Leonard.
BTW, was he Amish or Orthodox Jew, or was his appearance a personal choice? Strange to be writing and loving such consumptive products if his faith was the former. Anyone know the story?
Jewish.
Good obit in Saturday's Telegraph.
>> Edited by benzedrine on Sunday 18th September 16:41
Good obit in Saturday's Telegraph.
obit said:
LJK Setright
(Filed: 17/09/2005)
LJK Setright, who died on September 7 aged 74, was Britain's best-known and most eloquent motoring journalist and author, famous in an era before car experts could win easy notoriety on TV; he was "discovered" by a loyal readership within a year or two of taking up writing as a career in the mid-1960s, and maintained his reputation for erudition, mixed with an air of mystery, until he died.
Setright's fame stemmed primarily from his deep love for automobiles and engineering, about which he wrote most consistently and for longest in the monthly magazine Car. He was mostly self-taught on engineering subjects, but his erudition allowed him to meet the motor industry's best engineers on equal terms. It also enabled him to explain complicated concepts to his readers with a rare clarity. The same insights gave him the confidence to be a trenchant commentator who loved voicing provocative (but always elaborately argued) opinions - though nothing he ever wrote put his innate love for cars, motorcycles and their engineering in the slightest doubt.
Most of all, Setright was well-known for his lyrical, ornate and sometimes high-flown writing style, which bore no similarity to anything else written on such subjects. Readers loved or hated Setright's writing, but were rarely unmoved by it. Publishers became used to the fact that it was he who generated the most correspondence. Setright's editors generally loved his contributions, which were always delivered free of any kind of blemish, and written exactly to length. Much of the time, he even wrote copy in the measure of the publication for which it was intended, so that it arrived line-perfect as well.
Though fearless about voicing his frequently controversial opinions, at the core Setright was a private man who rarely volunteered much detail about his own life and activities. And although he greatly enjoyed communicating with readers en masse, he offered no one the slightest hope of individual contact. "It cannot be too widely known," he used to say, "that Setright does not indulge in correspondence." He was pleased to know that his opinions would be discussed, but was content that the discussion should proceed without him.
Leonard John Kensell Setright (friends called him Leonard, but he was always 'LJKS' in print) was born in London on August 10 1931, to Australian parents who had settled there. His father was an inventor and engineer, who eventually founded a family light engineering business that produced, among other things, the Setright ticket dispensing machine, famously used by British bus conductors until well into the 1970s.
Leonard went to grammar school at Palmer's Green, but lost his father at 11, perhaps one reason why he did not train in engineering, but read Law at London University instead.
He enjoyed his studies but hated practising law; so, after doing his national service in the RAF (when poor eyesight prevented his becoming a pilot, he became an air traffic controller instead), Setright turned to writing for a living. His first articles were on general engineering subjects and he was instantly successful, but his national notoriety began when he became a star writer at Car in the mid-1960s, and it never waned. Those who worked with Setright became used to answering the same question from readers: "What's LJK Setright really like?"
Setright's interests ranged far wider than automotive subjects and engineering. Having studied music as a child, he became expert on the clarinet as a band member in the RAF, and played it all his life. Fellow journalists remember him producing his instrument at the launch of a BMW model in France in the 1970s, and striking up with a jazz band. He was a fine singer, and a founder member of the Philharmonia Chorus (one treasured memory was a performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, under Otto Klemperer).
He was a dedicated student of the Jewish religion, which he followed all his life. His wide residual knowledge of everything that moved - aeroplanes, locomotives, motorcycles - was used to produce several dozen books, all on technical subjects but packed with intriguing narrative and challenging opinion.
Those who knew Setright well enjoyed his eccentricities, such as his life-long love of Bristol cars, a rare and idiosyncratic marque which has its roots in the long-defunct British aircraft industry. He detested speed limits and drove notoriously fast, frightening his passengers, but seldom had accidents. He hated diesel trucks and cars, not least for the "filth" they dropped on the roads, endangering motorcyclists, and he also disliked environmental fads.
He enjoyed dressing well, and had a particular penchant for being photographed for some new column or feature. He was vocal on the advantages of old age and shamelessly enjoyed smoking, always Sobranie Black Russian cigarettes, taking a fatalistic stance about any effect they might have on his health.
He particularly loved the high engineering values of Honda, and drove a venerable Prelude Coupe until he died. He liked most motorcycles, too, going about on a large, six-cylinder Honda until severely injured in an accident (which was not his fault).
He peppered his writing with classical allusions, or quotations in Latin or Greek. He once wrote in blank verse about a Citroen. And when, quite recently, the editor of one of Britain's best-known magazines suggested he "tone down" these flights of fancy to suit a more modern audience, his response was to submit a column entirely in Latin (before offering a translation a day later). Blessed with a brilliant memory, Setright never needed to take notes.
LJK Setright's first marriage, which ended in the mid-1970s, produced two daughters. He is survived by his children and by Helen, his second wife, whom he married late in life.
>> Edited by benzedrine on Sunday 18th September 16:41
benzedrine said:
Jewish.
Good obit in Saturday's Telegraph.
obit said:
LJK Setright
(Filed: 17/09/2005)
LJK Setright, who died on September 7 aged 74, was Britain's best-known and most eloquent motoring journalist and author, famous in an era before car experts could win easy notoriety on TV; he was "discovered" by a loyal readership within a year or two of taking up writing as a career in the mid-1960s, and maintained his reputation for erudition, mixed with an air of mystery, until he died.
Setright's fame stemmed primarily from his deep love for automobiles and engineering, about which he wrote most consistently and for longest in the monthly magazine Car. He was mostly self-taught on engineering subjects, but his erudition allowed him to meet the motor industry's best engineers on equal terms. It also enabled him to explain complicated concepts to his readers with a rare clarity. The same insights gave him the confidence to be a trenchant commentator who loved voicing provocative (but always elaborately argued) opinions - though nothing he ever wrote put his innate love for cars, motorcycles and their engineering in the slightest doubt.
Most of all, Setright was well-known for his lyrical, ornate and sometimes high-flown writing style, which bore no similarity to anything else written on such subjects. Readers loved or hated Setright's writing, but were rarely unmoved by it. Publishers became used to the fact that it was he who generated the most correspondence. Setright's editors generally loved his contributions, which were always delivered free of any kind of blemish, and written exactly to length. Much of the time, he even wrote copy in the measure of the publication for which it was intended, so that it arrived line-perfect as well.
Though fearless about voicing his frequently controversial opinions, at the core Setright was a private man who rarely volunteered much detail about his own life and activities. And although he greatly enjoyed communicating with readers en masse, he offered no one the slightest hope of individual contact. "It cannot be too widely known," he used to say, "that Setright does not indulge in correspondence." He was pleased to know that his opinions would be discussed, but was content that the discussion should proceed without him.
Leonard John Kensell Setright (friends called him Leonard, but he was always 'LJKS' in print) was born in London on August 10 1931, to Australian parents who had settled there. His father was an inventor and engineer, who eventually founded a family light engineering business that produced, among other things, the Setright ticket dispensing machine, famously used by British bus conductors until well into the 1970s.
Leonard went to grammar school at Palmer's Green, but lost his father at 11, perhaps one reason why he did not train in engineering, but read Law at London University instead.
He enjoyed his studies but hated practising law; so, after doing his national service in the RAF (when poor eyesight prevented his becoming a pilot, he became an air traffic controller instead), Setright turned to writing for a living. His first articles were on general engineering subjects and he was instantly successful, but his national notoriety began when he became a star writer at Car in the mid-1960s, and it never waned. Those who worked with Setright became used to answering the same question from readers: "What's LJK Setright really like?"
Setright's interests ranged far wider than automotive subjects and engineering. Having studied music as a child, he became expert on the clarinet as a band member in the RAF, and played it all his life. Fellow journalists remember him producing his instrument at the launch of a BMW model in France in the 1970s, and striking up with a jazz band. He was a fine singer, and a founder member of the Philharmonia Chorus (one treasured memory was a performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, under Otto Klemperer).
He was a dedicated student of the Jewish religion, which he followed all his life. His wide residual knowledge of everything that moved - aeroplanes, locomotives, motorcycles - was used to produce several dozen books, all on technical subjects but packed with intriguing narrative and challenging opinion.
Those who knew Setright well enjoyed his eccentricities, such as his life-long love of Bristol cars, a rare and idiosyncratic marque which has its roots in the long-defunct British aircraft industry. He detested speed limits and drove notoriously fast, frightening his passengers, but seldom had accidents. He hated diesel trucks and cars, not least for the "filth" they dropped on the roads, endangering motorcyclists, and he also disliked environmental fads.
He enjoyed dressing well, and had a particular penchant for being photographed for some new column or feature. He was vocal on the advantages of old age and shamelessly enjoyed smoking, always Sobranie Black Russian cigarettes, taking a fatalistic stance about any effect they might have on his health.
He particularly loved the high engineering values of Honda, and drove a venerable Prelude Coupe until he died. He liked most motorcycles, too, going about on a large, six-cylinder Honda until severely injured in an accident (which was not his fault).
He peppered his writing with classical allusions, or quotations in Latin or Greek. He once wrote in blank verse about a Citroen. And when, quite recently, the editor of one of Britain's best-known magazines suggested he "tone down" these flights of fancy to suit a more modern audience, his response was to submit a column entirely in Latin (before offering a translation a day later). Blessed with a brilliant memory, Setright never needed to take notes.
LJK Setright's first marriage, which ended in the mid-1970s, produced two daughters. He is survived by his children and by Helen, his second wife, whom he married late in life.
One of the best writers out there. He'll be missed. RIP
>> Edited by benzedrine on Sunday 18th September 16:41
godders75 said:
LJKS gone within weeks of Phil Llewellin?! Leonard was his own man, an iconic figure for those who read "Car" up until 10 years ago. There was a time (around 1989-92) when "Car" frontline columnists consisted of the late LJKS, the late Russell Bulgin, the late George Bishop, and the late Phil Llewellin. Very sad indeed.....
>> Edited by godders75 on Friday 9th September 14:15
that really was quite a line up which pointed me in the direction of cars. A shame magazines dont tend to have that type of emotion today really.
LJKS, you'll be missed
He was a great influence on most who read CAR magazine and I particularly recall his infatuation with Honda, possibly because IIRC, he met Soichiro Honda at some point. He was way ahead of others in expalining in detail the Honda rear wheel steer mechanism on the Prelude and was talking about angles of yaw at a time when no-one had ever really heard of them. Overall, he provided a fascinating counterpoint to the rather more mundane articles that peppered the motoring press
I never really cared for Llewellyn or Bulgin but Setright was a compulsory read.
I never really cared for Llewellyn or Bulgin but Setright was a compulsory read.
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