[Books] New Fay Taylour biography

[Vitesse]

Fanatical Fay Taylour.

Stephen Cullen is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Warwick and has written extensively on the history of British Fascism, the Communist Party of Great Britain, Jewish political activism and the social history of the Great War. In 2011 he wrote a well-received book on the history of the Home Guard, published by Pen & Sword. He's been researching Fay Taylour's political life for some years and since he published an article about Fay in an academic journal in 2012 he and I have been in fairly regular contact regarding this project. I've been researching Fay's motor racing life and Stephen's book draws on and references some of my own unpublished material - so I'm also declaring a (non-financial) interest here!

Don't expect a race-by-race account or lots of pictures: much of this book is concerned with Fay's personal life and politics, but it fleshes out what Brian Belton's book on her speedway career leaves out and provides some details about her subsequent career on four wheels. Belton has abandoned his original plan for a second book and Deb Cherry's project also seems to have sunk without trace. In Stephen's notes, you will see references to my own project 'Fay on Four Wheels': once I've made a few corrections and additions, I may publish this myself as an ebook.

Whatever you might think of Fay Taylour - and she is without doubt a divisive figure - the research Stephen has done sheds new light on her life. I only received my copy today and have really only had time to skim-read it, but it's clear that Stephen has produced a well-rounded portrait of a very complicated woman. He has published it himself at the very reasonable price of £5.50 (post free in the UK, £3.00 p&p elsewhere) and is selling it via eBay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fanatical-...-/331508418627