The Bentley era

Motor racing and eccentric rich people – the perfect recipe for a good read. Despite its general title this is about the Bentley Boys, and it presents fresh facts about the (mostly) wealthy band of racing brothers who made Bentley a glamourous name. Foulkes details the fascinating personal details of their later lives, not forgetting the lady players, Mrs Victor Bruce and Dorothy Paget. However, it is inevitably Birkin and Barnato who lead the parade, the one hard on his cars and his fortune, the other famously lavish but, as Foulkes relates, a more solid character than his image might suggest. Some mad typography is redeemed by great photographs used large, the racing leavened by domestic and social events. A excellent read. GC

Published by Quadrille, £30. ISBN: 139781844002411