1 week Ago By [email protected] (Gerry Warren)
The extraordinary life of a fabulously wealthy Kent aristocrat ended in tragedy 100 years ago today when he crashed his racing car at the Italian Grand Prix. After numerous daring exploits at the wheel, Count Louis Zborowski’s luck ran out at the age of 29. It was at Higham Park in Bridge, near Canterbury.
where his passion for speed and especially building fast cars began. At a time when there were precious few vehicles on east Kent’s roads, the sight and roaring sound of the Count’s self-built ‘Chitty Bang Bang’ machines became a familiar one. Zborowski was a 'gentleman driver' who, at the age of 16, had reportedly become the fourth richest under-21-year-old in the world following the death of his hugely wealthy mother.
His exploits and self-built cars later caught the attention of James Bond author Ian Fleming and inspired him to write the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang children's story which spawned the musical film about a car which could fly. The young Count was able to indulge his passion for motor racing after inheriting £11 million in cash - an eye-watering £1.3 billion in today's money - plus real estate in the United States, including seven acres of Manhattan and several blocks on Fifth Avenue in New York.
He lived at Higham Park - now known as Highland Court - which his widowed mother, Margaret Zborowski, who was related to the Astors, bought in 1910 for £17,500, and included 225 acres of farmland and 12 houses. She then spent £50,000 refurbishing the properties. Louis, who was half Polish and half American, was determined to be a racing driver, despite the death of his own father, William, who fatally crashed at La Turbie hillclimb in Nice, France, in 1903.
He became a patron of Aston Martin and raced for the marque at Brooklands and in the 1922 French Grand Prix. The following year he competed in the Indianapolis 500 in a Bugatti and the Italian Grand Prix. But he found more fame with his own race car creations, built in the stables at Higham Park.
Working with engineer and co-driver Captain Clive Gallop, who was later racing engineer to the 'Bentley Boys', they produced a monster 23-litre Maybach-powered racer, which became the first in a series of cars they called Chitty Bang Bang. Locals became familiar with the roar of the cars as the young Count tested them out on his long driveway and the surrounding roads. He also had an auto workshop in St Radigund's Street in Canterbury where the racing cars were developed.
It is said that the vehicles were so loud that a by-law was passed prohibiting them from entering within the city walls. In all, he built five cars, racing them with some success at Brooklands, the last being a 27-litre aero-engined monster he called 'The Higham Special'. Ever the adventurer, in 1922 Louis, his wife Vi and Clive Gallop, together with a couple of mechanics, took two Chitty Bang Bangs across the Mediterranean for a drive into the Sahara desert.
The following year, he competed in the Indianapolis 500 in a Bugatti and then drove in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in a car designed by American engineer Harry Arminius Miller. Count Zborowski was also a railway enthusiast and created a 15-inch gauge track called the Higham Railway, around his estate near Canterbury on which he ran a steam engine. Recently, a 70-year-old film was discovered in a cupboard and found to be one of a series of home movies made by the Count and Clive Gallop, who attempted to recreate favourite scenes from popular Hollywood silent films.
Louis starred as a villain in search of hidden treasure and many scenes featured the mile-long private railway at Higham. It was discovered in a collection of amateur films owned by well-known Canterbury businessman Sidney Bligh who died in 1942. The footage has now been edited and digitised by Canterbury Christ Church University film lecturer Tim Jones for the Canterbury Amateur Film Archive.
The Count's personal railway became the inspiration for him and another racing friend, Captain J.E.P.
Howey to construct a long-distance passenger-carrying railway line in the same gauge. Together they founded the 14-mile-long Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway for which the Count ordered the manufacturer of several locomotives. Now run by a trust, the line remains a popular tourist attraction and means of local transport.
But perhaps inevitably, after surviving a number of crashes, Louis' luck eventually ran out. He had joined the Mercedes team in 1924 but died in one of their cars, after hitting a tree on his 44th lap of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on October 19, 1924. He never saw the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in action because of his untimely death but the project was continued by Capt Howey.
After Louis's death, there was another tragedy, this time related to one of his own cars. His prized Higham Special was bought by J.G.
Parry-Thomas to make bids on the land speed record. But in an attempt at the Pendine Sands in 1927, the car overturned at more than 100mph and caught fire, killing Mr Parry-Thomas. Following his death, villagers in Patrixbourne claimed to begin seeing visions of a ghostly Chitty Chitty Bang Bang thundering through the lanes.
Author Ian Fleming had long been a fan of Count Zborowski, first watching in awe as a boy when he raced at Brooklands. Later when his friend Walter Whigham acquired Higham Park, renaming it Highland Court, he visited the estate and learned more about the Count's exploits, which inspired him to write the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang story. Author Ian Fleming had long been a fan of Count Zborowski, first watching in awe as a boy when he raced at Brooklands.
Later when his friend Walter Whigham acquired Higham Park, renaming it Highland Court, he visited the estate and learned more about the Count's exploits, which inspired him to write the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang story. During the Second World War, like many other country estates, the house was requisitioned by the War Office and designated for use by the British Army as a hospital. It continued serving as a hospital post-war, operating as the gynaecology unit of the Kent and Canterbury Hospital from 1951 until it was closed in 1981.
The property and 25 acres were put on the market by the local NHS Trust in 1994, with associated planning permission to create a hotel. The following year, Amanda Harris-Deans and Patricia Gibb, and Gibb's son Barry, bought the property and land for about £1.5 million.
They began a sympathetic renovation of the virtually derelict estate, completing the majority of the work by the mid-2000s. They opened the gardens to the public and also hosted antique fairs. But they later decided to downsize and sold the property in 2005 to a private buyer.
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