One Glorious Hour - The Mike Hawthorn Story

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This is a compelling and moving sports drama, played out in the bloody arena of highly dangerous Grand Prix motor racing of the fifties. It is a real-life story that matches the excitement and suspense of the very best fiction.

It is played out in the bloody arena of highly dangerous Grand Prix motor racing of the fifties, an age in which the drivers were still amateurs and the sport controllers and team owners as yet untainted by the corruption of big money.

In 1976 Don Shaw was commissioned by BBC TV to write a film about Mike Hawthorn, the first British world motor racing champion. It was never made. The reason? The facts of his life and death were then unclear.

Had he known what they were it would have catapulted the drama into the bracket of classical tragedy. Despite research he found myself faced with a well kept secret.

During the following thirty five years he kept returning to it, but still failed to penetrate that mystery. Until now. Rarely does a real life story, as that of Mike Hawthorn, match the best of fiction. ONE GLORIOUS HOUR does just that.

About the Author

Don Shaw has been a full-time writer for film, stage, radio and TV since 1968, and before that a teacher of the deaf. He won his first award in 1968 and went on to become one of the top TV writers, winning awards both at home and internationally.

He was the creator of the BBC drama series Dangerfield, and has been Visiting Professor in Drama at Derby University for many years. His first book The Hike was self-published and at Christmas 2004 outsold The Da Vinci Code in Derbyshire.

Married with three children, Don lives in Mickleover, near Derby.