RIP Sir Stirling Moss and Tim Brooke-Taylor

[LVSteve]

Seems like all my childhood heroes are being whittled away. We lost two more this weekend.

"Who do you think you are, Stirling Moss", has been the comment from many a British copper booking some nitwit for speeding. It became so ingrained in the British lexicon that coppers born way after Sir Stirling left racing carried on using it. He is widely thought of as the best F1 driver never to win a championship. He died at 90 after a long illness.

Sir Stirling Moss: Motor racing legend dies aged 90 after long illness - BBC Sport

Sir Stirling Moss: F1 legend 'still resonates in motorsport world' - BBC Sport

Tim Brooke-Taylor was a comic genius, another product of the Cambridge footlights review that gave us the Monty Python crew. Tim was a master both on TV and radio, the latter medium where I experienced him the most. Radio shows like "I'm sorry, I'll read that again" and the show called the antidote to panel games, "I'm sorry, I haven't a clue", stand out in my mind. The format of the latter was so successful that it is still running today, having started in 1972. Many here will know "The Four Yorkshiremen" sketch performed by the Monty Python gang. Tim co-wrote and performed in the original pre-Python.

RIP, Sir, another COVID-19 victim at 79.

Goodies star Brooke-Taylor dies with coronavirus - BBC News

Obituary: Tim Brooke-Taylor, life of funnyman who co-wrote The Four Yorkshiremen - BBC News

 

[Kurusu]

I think I read somewhere that the cops in fact once asked him If he thought he was Stirling Moss.

R.I.P.

 

[Rustyt1953]

I am familiar with their careers.

Good men, both.

 

[Walter Rego]

For the Christmas of 1962, my mom gave my brother and I a Stirling Moss Edition Aurora HO Scale slot car set. We set it up on a sheet of plywood down in the basement and it gave us many hundreds of hours of enjoyment (and kept us out of our mom's hair) pretending we were race car drivers like Sterling Moss.

 

[Moo Moo]

Not sure if you got this show in the USA, but Tim was in "The Goodies" which is probably his most famous work out here in Australia. I only just bought the box set of The Goodies DVDs last week which my kids have now been watching.

 

[Rustyt1953]

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VKHFZBUTA4k[/ame]

 

[hsguy]

Stirling Moss was my childhood hero, sorry to hear this.

 

[jeffsmith]

I Remember the Goodies for "Icky Thump"
Martial Art with a Black Pudding

 

[Sistema1927]

It is because of Stirling Moss that I thought that all race cars should be British racing green.

 

[StrawHat]

I laughed through many episodes of the Goodies.

RIP

Kevin

 

[Bob L]

Sir Sterling Moss was a hero, legend and Gentleman.

 

[Muley Gil]

It is because of Stirling Moss that I thought that all race cars should be British racing green.

As a young teen, I read several books about the 4 1/2 liter blown Bentley race cars. Plus, I watched John Steed drive his Bentley in The Avengers.

 

[robvious]

they both were great at what they did...
and Sir Stirling Moss was the definition of a class act...

R I P

 

[muddocktor]

they both were great at what they did...
and Sir Stirling Moss was the definition of a class act...

R I P

I couldn't have said it any better. And like others, Sir Stirling Moss was another of the drivers that were my hero when I was a kid along with Jim Clark and A. J. Foyt.

 

[Marshwheeling]

Before Jimmy Clark, there was Stirling Moss. No question, he was The Man.

That said, Piero Taruffi was the guy who taught me the most about racing.
[ame]https://www.amazon.com/Techniques-Motor-Racing-Piero-Taruffi/dp/B0007HNDTQ[/ame]

 

[H Richard]

In 1960 or 61 I saw him win a race at Snetterton (? SP) race track in England. I had footage with my movie camera that I included when I sold the camera a couple years later.

 

[JohnRippert]

I hopped onto my sim racing rig last night and took a 1958 Aston Martin DBR1 S around the old Nurburgring. Site of one of Sir Sterling Moss' greatest triumphs. What he did with that car during the 1959 1000km of the Nurburgring was awe inspiring. Coming from far behind to win and his fastest lap was 5 seconds ahead of the pole time. Godspeed you, Sir.

 

[gunner]

Fangio said that Moss was the best all around driver ever.

 

[swsig]

I sort of had dinner with Sir Stirling once. I say "sort of", because it was in a banquet hall with 500 other people. In 1986, Mercedes Benz celebrated their 100th anniversary by having a gathering of the faithful during the Pebble Beach Concours/Monterey Historic Races. I was fortunate enough to get tickets to the banquet, and was seated a couple of tables away from the center table, which was occupied by legendary Mercedes Benz race car drivers Sir Stirling, Juan Fangio, and Hermann Lang. Quite an evening to be sure!

My favorite memory of him is a photo that appeared in Road & Track magazine many years ago. It showed him alongside his fellow British driver and friend, Innes Ireland. Innes was wearing a t-shirt that read, "I taught Stirling Moss how to drive!". Stirling wore a t-shirt that read, "I taught Innes Ireland how to drink!". You don't have colorful characters like those anymore in today's super-corporate racing environment.

 

[Dave_n]

The Monty Python "gang" took a lot of the ideas first expressed by the Goon Show (only on BBC Radio) in the early 1950s. Look up Spike Milligan, Jon Pertwee, Harry Secombe etc. I remember from roughly my 10 th year onwards, listening to Paul Temple Detective followed by the Goons from roughly 1845 to 1900 and then 1900 to 1915, if I could persuade my parents to let me have the radio to myself!! Dave_n