Naming the car

[Robert Leigh]

I lived in Brunswick Walk Cambridge from 1963 to 1967. I bought Gloriana from a flatmate; he was a Benjamin Britten fan as was his brother who had given him the car as a 21st birthday present; it was a 1933 RP, which is still in Cambridge with the second owner since me. Pictures of the car appeared in the Cambridge Daily News after it was driven along the frozen River Cam in the hard winter of '63. I also owned an un-named 1930 fabric saloon at that address. Later I had another VE registered RP which was named Vera by the brothers to whom I sold it. Also for 38 years I had Clarice, a scruffy 1936 MkII Ruby. She had the name on the side of the bonnet, and we always used it. I did give a name to my Austin Seven tractor: I called it Trevor, not just to fit with tractor but because it had a modified Solex carburettor to allow it to be run on TVO.
Robert Leigh