Knowing that many of us on this Forum are also interested in non motorsport adventures, I thought that it would be helpful to preview an event at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu
This is the first event in 2025 in the regular series of Transport Torques held at Beaulieu and is a presentation being given by Alex Bescoby called "The Last Overland: Oxford’s Triumphant Return" on Saturday 22nd February.
Alex Bescoby is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, writer and presenter with a passion for adventure and a love of history, travel and storytelling. A Cambridge University history and politics graduate, he has written for BBC News, the Telegraph, National Geographic and Lonely Planet. His films have been shown by global broadcasters including BBC, All4, History, Discovery and Canal+.
About The Last Overland:
‘A journey that I don’t think could be made again today’. It was this comment by Sir David Attenborough on the fiftieth anniversary of the iconic First Overland expedition that became an irresistible challenge for filmmaker and adventurer Alex.
In 1955, Attenborough, then a young TV producer, was approached by six recent university graduates determined to drive - using two Land Rovers (one each for the combined Cambridge and Oxford Universities) - the entire length of ‘Eurasia’, from London to Singapore. It was the unclimbed Everest of motoring – many had tried, none had succeeded. Sensing this time might be different, Attenborough gave the expedition enough film reel to cover their attempt. The 19,000-mile journey completed by Tim Slessor and the team captivated a nation emerging from post-war austerity. Tim’s book, The First Overland, soon became the Bible of the overlanding religion.
Inspired by the First Overland, Alex made contact with then eighty-six-year-old Tim and together they planned an epic recreation of the original trip, this time from Singapore to London. Their goal was to complete the legendary journey that started more than sixty years ago in the original "Oxford" Land Rover.
In awe of unstoppable Tim, and haunted by his own grandfather’s decline, Alex and his team soon found themselves battling rough roads, breakdowns and Oxford’s constant leaky roof to discover a world changed for the better – and worse – since the first expedition. Despite coinciding with the lockdown during the Covid pandemic, the results of Alex's and the teams' endeavours eventually resulted in a fascinating series of four programmes for Channel 4. The full series of "The Last Overland" can be watched in the UK on All 4, Channel 4’s On Demand service.
The museum is hoping that "Oxford" will also be on display for this event.
Tickets for The Last Overland are available now and cost £7.50 for Friends of the National Motor Museum and £15.00 for non-members and proceeds go towards the work of the National Motor Museum Trust including the restoration of the museum's Sunbeam 1000HP land speed record car from 1927. Doors open at 1830 and Alex's presentation will begin at 1900. Further details on the museum's website:
Edited by Pullman99, Yesterday, 12:51.
