The Petre principle

Everyone has some brief but memorable moments in life. One of mine occurred after I had contributed to a book about all kinds of sports, my contribution being motor racing, of course. The book must have been successful, because its publisher had a lunch at the Connaught Rooms in London for the authors and their spouses, and we were also asked to bring someone from our sport.

I decided to invite Mrs Kay Petre. We were announced and the directors shook hands and then said, “But what a pity you could not bring a racing driver.” It was then that I was able to reply that I was just about to introduce them to one of the greatest lady racing drivers they were ever likely to meet, who had lapped Brooklands at well over 134mph. An enjoyable moment.

After lunch Kay asked to be dropped at Harrods to do some shopping and I never saw her again. The following year we took Tony Brooks as another top-line racing driver. He was placed with a lady who wrote about gliders. I hope he wasn’t too bored.