A Biker's Life: Misadventures on (and off) Two Wheels

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This book reminds millions of motorcyclists why their bike gives them the freedom to be exactly who they want to be: to say; World's First Christmas Card". British Postal Museum and Archive. Archived from the original on 22 March 2014 . Retrieved 1 September 2013. Henry Cole is also the founder and owner of Gladstone Motorcycles which manufactures bespoke British motorbikes.

Home and Colonial in Berkhamsted is a treasure trove of items over five floors. The café in the attic has views over the town. That moment had everything. The privilege of being there, the fear of attempting it, the excitement of a possible record. Everything conspired to create a memory I’ll never, ever forget. But all of the moments we have out on our bikes are special.Cole was born in Tooting, south London. [1] [2] He was placed for adoption at ten days of age and adopted by George and Florence Cole, who lived in Tooting, moving five miles away to a council flat in Morden when Cole was five years old. The senior George suffered from epilepsy, a double hernia, and the after-effects of gas poisoning during the First World War; he had several jobs which were curtailed by his ill-health, including the pulling of a heavy roller for Tooting council, which exertion in Cole's opinion contributed to his father's death. [3] He attended secondary school in nearby Morden. [1] He left school at 14 to be a butcher's boy and had an ambition to join the Merchant Navy, but landed a part in a touring musical and chose acting as a career. He recalled during that year (1939) he was in Dublin on the day of Britain's entry into World War II when he witnessed an effigy of Neville Chamberlain being publicly burned without interference from the local police. [4] Career [ edit ] Henry is the presenter of The Motorbike Show on ITV 4. Each episode features a restoration project, starting with a bike in need of some TLC, which gets transformed, with a little help from Sam Lovegrove and Allen Millyard. He is also an author of a book titled A Biker’s Life where he has discussed his roller-coaster life story. I can't think of anywhere I'd less like to be than in a car" writes Henry. "When you're driving a car, you're not taking part, you're a spectator. You're in a can; if it's cold you turn up the heating, if you're hungry you have a wine gum. You might be looking at what's going on, but you're definitely not a part of it."

As well as television presenting, Henry runs the production company that makes allthe shows he fronts ... and a whole lot more he doesn’t. Motorcycling, to me, has become a hobby. If we really looked at it, it could become incredibly utilitarian. People would use it. If only we weren’t taxed. Why aren’t there incentives to get people out of their cars to commute on motorcycles and scooters in London?In addition to that, Henry owns a television production company named HCA Entertainment. Through his company, he has produced and directed numerous factual series for broadcasters including Grimefighters, London’s Greatest Hits, and Discovering Gardens. So it’s safe to say that Eton and his ‘stifling upbringing’ fuelled his rebellion. “It all went slightly wrong at Eton when I started smoking weed.” Henry Cole wrote a memoir: Cole helped build the National Art Training School, which was renamed the Royal College of Art in 1896. He also helped build many other institutions in South Kensington, like the Royal College of Music and Imperial College London. In fact, the Imperial College Mathematics Department used to be in the Henry Cole Wing on Exhibition Road. When the building was given to the Victoria and Albert Museum, the department moved out.

You are looking after your needs rather than your wants, and if you look after your needs then you have contentment. That’s me on a bike. I also love that biking is classless and the route to entry is minimal. You can still buy bikes for dirt cheap and ride to Monaco on it. You can’t do that with cars. That’s freedom. In 1995, he also started HCA Entertainment, an independent company that makes TV shows. It focuses on programs that are both interesting and true. Henry Cole has how many kids? Who Are His Family Members?Bonython, Elizabeth and Anthony Burton The Great Exhibitor: The Life and Work of Henry Cole, London: V & A, 2003.

In his hard-hitting memoir – A Biker’s Life: Misadventures on (and off) Two Wheels, Henry discusses his life: Cole sold the first commercial Christmas card in 1843. He asked the artist John Callcott Horsley to make the card’s picture. A fake name for Felix Summerly We are creating what we believe to be beautiful bobbers. What we are desperately trying to do is our microscopic part of continuing that passion for British engineering, British styling. We love it. We live for designing a bike that is aesthetically pleasing.” Henry Cole is proud to be British: Earnshaw, Iris (November 2003). "The History of Christmas Cards". Inverloch Historical Society Inc . Retrieved 25 July 2008.Henry's passion for motorbikes began at the age of eight, when he was first introduced to a 'man cave'. His great-uncle Redbeard's corrugated iron shed was 'stuffed to the gills with old motorbikes' which Henry helped rebuild and ride. Since then, Henry's life can be charted through the bikes and journeys he has been on – from a stifling public-school education, via many years battling addiction, to the big-sky iconic routes Henry has ridden for over twenty series as presenter of numerous TV shows. Likewise, he did some development works on Honda NSX and Corvette C7R Le Mans cars. Afterward, he moved to Newlands Motors and helped in building Jaguar and Aston Martin race cars. HC: The most memorable was breaking the world land speed record for a pre-1955, 750cc motorcycle on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Getting a tank slapper at over 100mph on salt, on a 1927 Brought Superior, and thinking, I can’t drop this. And actually, somehow coming out of it and setting the record, that was great. HC: If you have a 50cc moped and decide to make a 20-mile journey to your favourite garage, that’s an adventure. People don’t put things into context. Few of us have the time or inclination to ride around the world. Some of us have kids and everything else stopping that.