A Passion for Speed

The Daring Life of Mildred, The Honourable Mrs Victor Bruce

Paul Smiddy

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9780750983662
• eBook ISBN:
  9780750985307
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Women in History
• Index: Technology & Engineering

The Honourable Mrs Victor Bruce: record-breaking racing motorist; speedboat racer; pioneering aviator and businesswoman – remarkable achievements for a woman of the 1920s and '30s. Mildred Bruce enjoyed a privileged background that allowed her to search for thrills beyond the bounds of most female contemporaries. She raced against the greats at Brooklands, drove 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle and won the first ladies' prize at the Monte Carlo Rally. Whilst Amy Johnson was receiving global acclaim for her flight to Australia, Mildred learned to fly, and a mere eight weeks later she embarked on a round-the-world flight, becoming the first person to fly solo from the UK to Japan. Captured by brigands and feted by the Siamese, Japanese and Americans, she survived several crashes with body and spirit intact, and became a glittering aviation celebrity on her return. A thoroughly modern woman, she pushed similar boundaries in her unconventional love life and later became Britain's first female airline entrepreneur. This is the story of a charismatic woman who defied the conventions of her time, and loved living life in the fast lane.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword by Polly Vacher
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Living the Novel: Rescue from the Brigands
• 2 Petre and Williams: A Potent Genetic Cocktail
• 3 Pressures of an Edwardian Girlhood
• 4 Finding a Lover in Post-War England
• 5 The Need for Speed: Edwardian Motoring, Brooklands and Meeting Victor
• 6 Victor: Family and Fame
• 7 Monte and Marriage
• 8 No Housewife this: Montlhéry and Breaking Motoring Records
• 9 Woman on a Mission: Fairy Tale and Fact
• 10 Departing England: Doing her Bit
• 11 Plenty of Sweat
• 12 Onwards to Japan
• 13 A Stout-Hearted Lady
• 14 The Last Lap
• 15 Arrival and Adulation
• 16 Stars in the Sky
• 17 Mildred, the Entrepreneur
• 18 The Restless Soul
• 19 More Pain for Mildred: an Eventful war
• 20 Epilogue
• Appendix 1: Mildred’s Motor-Racing Career
• Appendix 2: The History of the Blackburn Bluebird
• Notes and References
• Sources
• Picture Sections