Martin Curtis

Lodekkas first appeared in service during a period when the passenger-transport industry was enjoying a peak in popularity. Passenger numbers were among their highest ever in the provinces, and most members of society relied on public transport for journeys to and from work or school, or for leisure activities. The Lodekka was supplied only to state-owned transport operators, as a result of sales restrictions imposed on the manufacturer, yet some 5,217 examples were built between 1949 and 1968, making it one of the most familiar British double-deck bus types throughout the 1950s, '60s and '70s. This book, which features a huge variety of photographs, including a number of official views which will be of great interest to modellers and enthusiasts alike, recalls a period when Bristol Lodekkas not only formed the mainstay of many provincial bus fleets but also one in which company liveries were closely associated with specific areas of the country. It gives a colourful look at the life and times of the Bristol Lodekka, portraying it in different liveries and locations as it worked the country with a variety of operators.

In September 1958, only minutes into a professional road race, Australia's best cyclist, Russell Mockridge, was dead, his head and body crushed under the wheels of a bus. The death of the Olympic Gold medallist and Tour de France competitor was an embarrassment for cycling officials. Mockridge was 30 when he was killed and planning a new assault on European professional racing. On the 50th anniversary of his death Melbourne journalist Martin Curtis revisits the life and death of Russell Mockridge. He finds a literate, urbane, but shy man, an outsider in the rough-and-tumble world of professional cycling. He also investigates passionately held family views that the death was not properly investigated. This is a compelling account of a legendary Australian sportsman and one that will be of real interest to the growing number of cycling enthusiasts as well as a broad general readership.