23 replies to this topic

[f1steveuk]

Has anyone read this? I have to admit to being curious.

[ensign14]

"Mysterious"? Um, I don't wish to be flippant, but dying as a result of a car hitting a tree in a car chock full of explosive fuel at full chat is not particularly mysterious.

[KJJ]

This is the Amazon synopsis of this book:

"Richard Seaman was one of Europe's leading racing drivers in the 1930s. A cocky, flamboyant daredevil in the world of Grand Prix racing, and a covert operator working for the British government on the eve of World War II, Seaman was respected by Adolf Hitler - and the target of a vendetta by Nazi Germany's most feared killers, the Gestapo. This volume exposes the connections between Seaman, Hitler's legendary Mercedes racing team, the Gestapo, the British Secret Service and the Nazi doctor who murdered Seaman following a horrific crash during the 1939 Belgium Grand Prix. Sixty years after the British government declared his death "a tragic accident", evidence about the attempted cover-up of the truth behind Seaman's fate is revealed along with details of the bitter love triangle involving Seaman's young wife and a Nazi officer, Seaman's mother's affair with Hitler's foreign minister Joachim Ribbentrop and the wild, drug-fuelled lives of the 1930s racing crowd. The book also reveals an attempt by German industrialists to prevent the discovery of Seaman's wrecked Mercedes car and race diary, believed to be buried close to his former family home in Worcestershire."

[Dennis Hockenbury]

I'm not sure that the book is out as of yet, and to be blunt, from what I have read of this one thus far I would prefer that it is never released.

News of this book back in February really disappointed me. My rant can be found here .

[Don Capps]

One never ceases to be amazing by the utter nonsense that attracts attention of those with the apparent ability to get it into print while great stories that are actually true go lacking because of tripe like this.

Who exactly is this clown?

[Ray Bell]

I must have been on the road when the previous comments about this book were posted...

I cannot for the life of me see why, if this was true, none of it had ever come out well before this. Even if some were withheld for the sake of Seaman's mother's feelings.

In fact, it might have made good propaganda to have revealed such a thing to the forces in the war, surely?

[Geoff E]

Originally posted by KJJ
..... race diary, believed to be buried close to his former family home in Worcestershire."

I came across this article about the said family home only last week - the old chap in the pictures was our late next-door neighbour (who died in February)-

http://www.bredonsch...press.php?id=64

[BorderReiver]

Just to play Devil's Advocate (and I'm in no way endorsing the book by the way), nobody would've beleived that Leslie Howard was a British Agent either. Now all this stuff about the Nazi Officer's wife and a hidden wrecked Mercedes is most likely to be purely Indiana Jones calibre rubbish, but there are more things in heaven than earth.

There is a 99% chance that everything in this book will be rubbish of course, and a 99.999% chance of most of it being tosh. But strange stuff did go on in the 1930s word of espionage, perhaps it is feasible that Seaman had "other" responsibilities?

Equally, perhaps not.

[Dennis Hockenbury]

Don, I really don't know much about Mr. Shirley as I have not read any of his previous books. A review of his titles on Amazon.co.uk gives me a flavor of his perspective, but each should reach their own opinion on this perhaps.

There is about as much chance that Mrs. Beattie-Seaman was involved with Joachim Ribbentrop as finding out that Maggie Thatcher was Stalin's secret love puppy. Added to this I am supposed to believe that Erica Popp has a romantic liason with a Nazi officer, contrary to everything ever published about the Seaman story by well respected authors such as Nixon, Nye, and others.

Sorry. Utter nonsense.

[petefenelon]

Phil Shirley is a general sports writer, who seems to specialise in ghosting autobiographies and in writing books exploring the "faith" of sportsmen. I thought his previous F1 book - Deadly Obsessions - was trite, sensationalist and mawkish, and didn't seem to show any real understanding of the drivers he was writing about... I'm not filled with hope for this one.

[MPea3]

Originally posted by Dennis Hockenbury
... Maggie Thatcher was Stalin's secret love puppy.

If there's film I don't want to see it...

[jj2728]

Originally posted by KJJ
This is the Amazon synopsis of this book:

"Richard Seaman was one of Europe's leading racing drivers in the 1930s. A cocky, flamboyant daredevil in the world of Grand Prix racing, and a covert operator working for the British government on the eve of World War II, Seaman was respected by Adolf Hitler - and the target of a vendetta by Nazi Germany's most feared killers, the Gestapo. This volume exposes the connections between Seaman, Hitler's legendary Mercedes racing team, the Gestapo, the British Secret Service and the Nazi doctor who murdered Seaman following a horrific crash during the 1939 Belgium Grand Prix. Sixty years after the British government declared his death "a tragic accident", evidence about the attempted cover-up of the truth behind Seaman's fate is revealed along with details of the bitter love triangle involving Seaman's young wife and a Nazi officer, Seaman's mother's affair with Hitler's foreign minister Joachim Ribbentrop and the wild, drug-fuelled lives of the 1930s racing crowd. The book also reveals an attempt by German industrialists to prevent the discovery of Seaman's wrecked Mercedes car and race diary, believed to be buried close to his former family home in Worcestershire."

me thinks this might be a screenplay by sylvester stallone....

[Wolf]

Does anybody know whether this book includes table with race results and chassis logs? If so, I think it would make a good reference book.

(Possible) * SPOILER ALERT * I don't know whether book review just failed to notice, or some sloppy research on author's part, but Seaman's mother and von Ribbentrop had two illegitimate sons (both have changed their names, which I will not reveil to protect their privacy)- one went on to became post-war German chancellor, and was involved in some arms-smuggling scandal, while other quietly moved to USA and became oil baron in Texas, which later went on to marry JR's sister (or was it Joan Collins).

[Leif Snellman]

Originally posted by Wolf
Does anybody know whether this book includes table with race results and chassis logs?

[VAR1016]

Following serialisation in the Mail on Sunday or the News of the World, I expect a Hollywood film to made of this action-packed adventure.

The film will be "based" on the book and of course Seaman will be transmogrified into a plucky American who took on the Nazis and beat them.

PdeRL

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by VAR1016
Following serialisation in the Mail on Sunday or the News of the World, I expect a Hollywood film to made of this action-packed adventure.

The film will be "based" on the book and of course Seaman will be transmogrified into a plucky American who took on the Nazis and beat them.

PdeRL

Ummmm.... they could film Robert Ryan's Early One Morning (Benoist, Grover-Williams etc) as a sequel....

[f1steveuk]

I hope you like the reviews of my last book (Leap into Legend) on Amazon after that pasting. I have to agree, it's an outlandish suggestion, but there are some weird things that have happened. If the argument is well researched and pitched well, I'd give it a read, but from what has been said, it's a cheapshot!

[Ralliart]

Seaman's mother in a love affair with von Rippentropf? Wasn't this the woman that decidely didn't approve of her son getting married to a German? To the extent that she was taking him out of her will or disowning him or something? After reading the Nixon and Monkhouse books, I had the distinct impression that the Popp household was anti-Nazi, with Ernst Udet's comical impressions of Hitler being conducted at parties, etc. And I got the impresion that Seaman was going a little too fast (I think he was leading), under the conditions, that day at Spa.

[Dennis Hockenbury]

To be fair, I don't (from what I have read on the subject over the years) believe that Mrs. Beattie-Seaman was anti-German per se.

She was profoundly protective of how she was perceived within her social circle. Given the vast political issues between Germany and England at the time, marriage by her son to a German would be socially unacceptable and embarrassing to her.

Erica spoke fluent English and came from a social strata at least the equal of the Beattie-Seaman's. Erica was in many ways the same self absorbed, over indulged, and headstrong reflection of Dick. And yes, her father was very anti-Nazi in his personal life and this extended to his daughters as well.

Mrs. Beattie-Seaman, IMHO, was reluctant to lose her only son to any marriage, English or German at that point, as I sincerely believe that she wished to remain the only woman in Dick's life. Unrealistic, but true I think.

During her visit to Ambach in July/August, 1938 she was dancing with German cadet soldiers at the Alpenhof in Garmisch. Hardly the action of someone who disliked the German people. I don't believe that von Ribbentrop was one of her squires that evening however.

As Mrs. Beattie-Seaman died in April, 1948, I cannot accept that any of the purported story was withheld for more than 50 years for the sake of her feelings.

After Dick's fatal crash at Spa, Erica ventured to England where she was briefly engaged to Reggie Tongue, and thence to the U.S. where she was briefly married to an American. After returning to Germany in 1953, she married the brother of her closest girlfriend, Curt Schwab. They moved to Sarasota, Florida in 1972. I have no idea of Herr Schwab's military service during the war.

I have bothered to write all of this as I believe it is a vast, vast distance from a dance with cadets, and a later marriage to a subsequent husband with a "possible" military record to a contrived conspiracy involving the Gestapo, von Ribbentrop, and nefarious attempts to hide the evidence of Seaman's racing murder.

RJBS was no angel, and far from perfect. But his memory deserves far better than the treatment by Mr. Shirley.

[Arjan de Roos]

Gentlemen,

I say, please dont spoil your precious time to this. Its just people using history to mix it up with nonsense and sell it for big money to the unaware new generations.

May I just inform you how beautiful it was to be at the Spa 1000 km last sunday. And see Herbert and friends make future nostalgia with their fantastic macineries at the track where Seaman lost it. A walk around the track during this race is one of best motor racing experiences (I nearly cried from the emotions). You can still stand a few feet away from where the cars blast past with 300+ km/h. Tip: we had a great spectator finale as we stood on the outside La Source next to the marshall. This is one of the last spots where Bernie Inc did not have a sight obstructing fence placed. We could nearly touch the cars as they slid past, some blocking their front wheels while skidding into La Source. The sound, sight and smell of it all. This is heaven, motor racing heaven indeed.

[Henri Greuter]

The Discovery Channel had a nice documentary about Dick Seaman, his life & career, forgot the title by the way but it was a neat report.
Our fellow member Doug Nye participated to this documentary.

Henri Greuter

[FLB]

Originally posted by Henri Greuter
The Discovery Channel had a nice documentary about Dick Seaman, his life & career, forgot the title by the way but it was a neat report.
Our fellow member Doug Nye participated to this documentary.

Henri Greuter

I saw it too. Chris Nixon was also a part of it

It was called Nazi Grand-Prix, a rather dreadful title for a very nice documentary I thought.

[Gary C]

it originally went out on our (UK) terrestial (sp??) Channel 4

[Arjan de Roos]

Has anyone read this? I have to admit to being curious.

Then 8 years on we can be glad it has not been published.