Sorry to be on the question-asking end so often presently, but dismissing the recent 'revelations' as probable nonsense, does anyone have handy the dates of birth/death for 'Williams', the celebrated Bugattiste and maquisard????
DCN
Grover Williams dates????
Started by
Doug Nye
, Aug 27 2002 22:13
6 replies to this topic
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#2
Vitesse2
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Posted 27 August 2002 - 22:21
Not sure of a birth date any more accurate than "1903", but his usually accepted date of death is March 18th 1945 - I think this comes from either SOE or Gestapo sources.
#3
Hans Etzrodt
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Posted 27 August 2002 - 23:41
"Williams" or Grover-Williams, William Charles Frederick (“Willy”) (F)
* January 16, 1903 Montouge near Paris, France
† Mar 1945 Sachsenhausen, Germany
* January 16, 1903 Montouge near Paris, France
† Mar 1945 Sachsenhausen, Germany
#4
WGD706
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Posted 27 August 2002 - 23:43
Grover Williams 1903-1943
Mrs Mary Whitworth has kept in touch with the Bugatti Trust about her husband’s uncle, Grover Williams. (Williams’ eldest sister, Elizabeth, was Mrs Whitworth’s mother-in-law.) Mrs Whitworth recently donated a collection of contemporary newspaper cuttings about ‘Uncle Willie’ and his Bugatti racing exploits. She has also donated some wonderful photographs including ones of Williams, his widow, Yvonne, in 1950, and several of other drivers with racing Bugattis (very significant additions to our collection).
http://www.bugatti.c...rust/nl5-5.html
There is also a 'historical novel'....Early One Morning by Robert Ryan..."A gripping fact-based World War II spy drama in which two rivals on the race track become close allies working with the French Resistance in occupied France. Paris in the roaring '20s is a whirl of jazz-age decadence for Frenchman Robert Benoist and William Grover-Williams, his English rival on the European race circuit. Between the glamorous cocktail evenings, celebrity soirees and other high-society shindigs, the pair battle it out on the race track behind the wheels of their high-performance Bugatti cars.
William, a former chauffeur for the famous portrait artist William Orpen, has fallen for the painter's young mistress, the beautiful Eve Aubicq. Robert wants her too, but the outbreak of World War II puts their personal rivalries into perspective. Germany occupies France and Paris becomes a ghost town.
Before he knows it, William - who has one or two skeletons in his closet - is recruited by Britain's Special Operations Executive, and trained in covert activities such as code-crunching, explosives and coping with interrogation by the enemy. His mission is to parachute into France where he will work alongside the growing, but factionalised, Resistance. The Brits have their eye on Robert too - together, the two fastest men in Europe would make a formidable team.
There really was a Robert Benoist and a William Grover-Williams, they really did race Bugattis and they both worked for the Special Operations Executive. Beyond such verifiable facts, truth and fiction merge, which is of course the nature of the historical novel. "
ISBN: 074726872X Publisher: Headline 4/3/2002
£12.99 RRP Hardback
Beaulieu-sur-Mer (which in rough translation means "Beautiful Place-on-Sea") in Monaco was the home of one of Bugatti's most famous drivers: William Grover-Williams, better known as "Williams", the man who won the very first Monaco Grand Prix. He and his wife Yvonne used to race one another along the twisting coastal roads and on several occasions Yvonne was stopped for speeding.
"What about him," she would say to the policemen. "Why don't you stop him? You always stop me!"
"He is Williams," they replied. "We don't stop Williams."
BIRTHDATE: January 16, 1903 DEATH: April, 1945
BIRTHPLACE: Montrouge, France PLACE: Paris, France (Executed by Gestapo)
http://www.f1empire....s/0williams.htm
Interesting in that there seems to be 2 different years listed for his death, depending on the source.
Warren Davis
Mrs Mary Whitworth has kept in touch with the Bugatti Trust about her husband’s uncle, Grover Williams. (Williams’ eldest sister, Elizabeth, was Mrs Whitworth’s mother-in-law.) Mrs Whitworth recently donated a collection of contemporary newspaper cuttings about ‘Uncle Willie’ and his Bugatti racing exploits. She has also donated some wonderful photographs including ones of Williams, his widow, Yvonne, in 1950, and several of other drivers with racing Bugattis (very significant additions to our collection).
http://www.bugatti.c...rust/nl5-5.html
There is also a 'historical novel'....Early One Morning by Robert Ryan..."A gripping fact-based World War II spy drama in which two rivals on the race track become close allies working with the French Resistance in occupied France. Paris in the roaring '20s is a whirl of jazz-age decadence for Frenchman Robert Benoist and William Grover-Williams, his English rival on the European race circuit. Between the glamorous cocktail evenings, celebrity soirees and other high-society shindigs, the pair battle it out on the race track behind the wheels of their high-performance Bugatti cars.
William, a former chauffeur for the famous portrait artist William Orpen, has fallen for the painter's young mistress, the beautiful Eve Aubicq. Robert wants her too, but the outbreak of World War II puts their personal rivalries into perspective. Germany occupies France and Paris becomes a ghost town.
Before he knows it, William - who has one or two skeletons in his closet - is recruited by Britain's Special Operations Executive, and trained in covert activities such as code-crunching, explosives and coping with interrogation by the enemy. His mission is to parachute into France where he will work alongside the growing, but factionalised, Resistance. The Brits have their eye on Robert too - together, the two fastest men in Europe would make a formidable team.
There really was a Robert Benoist and a William Grover-Williams, they really did race Bugattis and they both worked for the Special Operations Executive. Beyond such verifiable facts, truth and fiction merge, which is of course the nature of the historical novel. "
ISBN: 074726872X Publisher: Headline 4/3/2002
£12.99 RRP Hardback
Beaulieu-sur-Mer (which in rough translation means "Beautiful Place-on-Sea") in Monaco was the home of one of Bugatti's most famous drivers: William Grover-Williams, better known as "Williams", the man who won the very first Monaco Grand Prix. He and his wife Yvonne used to race one another along the twisting coastal roads and on several occasions Yvonne was stopped for speeding.
"What about him," she would say to the policemen. "Why don't you stop him? You always stop me!"
"He is Williams," they replied. "We don't stop Williams."
BIRTHDATE: January 16, 1903 DEATH: April, 1945
BIRTHPLACE: Montrouge, France PLACE: Paris, France (Executed by Gestapo)
http://www.f1empire....s/0williams.htm
Interesting in that there seems to be 2 different years listed for his death, depending on the source.
Warren Davis
#5
Doug Nye
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Posted 28 August 2002 - 08:07
Thank you all very much - again - I will return the favour (as I hope you are confident I would)
DCN
DCN
#6
Barry Lake
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Posted 28 August 2002 - 12:00
Originally posted by Hans Etzrodt
"Williams" or Grover-Williams, William Charles Frederick (“Willy”) (F)
* January 16, 1903 Montouge near Paris, France
† Mar 1945 Sachsenhausen, Germany
Is this from the pre-1949 GP drivers list you're whipping together for us Hans?
#7
Hans Etzrodt
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Posted 28 August 2002 - 17:42
Yes, it comes from my drivers' list, which is rather incomplete. I won't have time to work on this old information but I update my paper copy of this, whenever I find a need for correction or addition.
