Lewis Hamilton won the World F1 title for the fifth time yesterday but the first Briton to do so was Mike Hawthorn in 1958. Having retired from motor racing, he was killed in a road accident the following year. In the 1980s, there was a programme called The Rock’n’Roll Years. Brilliantly simple format: News footage from a particular year accompanied by a soundtrack of hits from that year. I was watching it with my girlfriend and her mother, who’d been engaged to Mike Hawthorn at the time of his death. The featured year was 1958. Suddenly he was on screen being interviewed after winning the title. Years before YouTube, this was the first time my girlfriend’s mum had heard his voice or seen a moving image of him since he died and as she ran from the room sobbing, this was the accompanying track. Though Tragic Moments would have been more appropriate.
The original Lewis Hamilton.

- "Paul? Hello...4th Jun 2014
- I'm going to ...3rd Jun 2014
- First take a ...2nd Jun 2014
- The return of...1st Jun 2014
- Venison, hot ...31st May 2014
- Out with the ...30th May 2014
- Family outing...29th May 2014
- My daughter i...28th May 2014
- On a rainy Ba...26th May 2014
- Pat Kelly sou...25th May 2014
- We know we sh...24th May 2014
- UKIP seem to ...23rd May 2014
- I didn't want...22nd May 2014
- A record you'...21st May 2014
- The three liv...20th May 2014 prev next