Seventy Years On.

I ’m only 163 centimetres tall, so I can’t even claim to be a big kid. Sixty years ago, my Dad took me to the London Motor Show. I saw my first Lotus, and swore to own one, when I was a grown up. What do I drive today? A Lotus. My 5th

I also dreamt of being the next Stirling Moss. I wasn’t. But I do have a trophy cabinet with about sixty trophies in it. I gave it shot! Some years ago when over in Australia on a visit, my mother remarked to a group of my friends. “The only thing that surprises me about my son, is that he is still alive.” When in the UK visiting her. I announced my intention to go to Covent Garden the following day. Mother claimed this was not possible due to the then current terrorist activities in London. I told her. “The day they stop me doing what I want, when I want to do it, they have won. But it’s not today.”

Life has had it’s battles, alcoholism, bankruptcy, cancer. The toughest was alcohol. Bankruptcy? Planning and discipline got me back from that. Cancer? Well that wasn’t even a fair fight. I was always going to win that one. And though I haven’t yet. It’s only a matter of time. I mean what do you do when diagnosed with cancer. Why, you make a come back to motor sport of course. I thought everybody knew that. To actually win after a thirty year absence from the track. That might be special.

I’ve taken the odds to everything in life. But not the Corona Virus. That’s not just my odds. That's everyone around me, loved ones and friends. I’ve lost too many friends. It doesn’t seem fair somehow. I took all the risks, and I’m still here. Dad, Carol, Terry, Silly John, all lost to cancer. Never took risks, but gone. My Dad died at 53.

So what’s next for Roger? Well Europe seems out for a while yet. So a bit more motor sport. After all I’m only 70. So that’s 2021 taken care of. Followed in 2022. By a tour of all the European iconic Opera Houses. La Scala to St Petersburg!

What a life! How fortunate I am to have lived it. I’m not a victim of anything. Rather a victor of everything!