Pugugly,
I agree 'Car' magazine's attempts to report more objectively was long before Clarkson came on the scene and IIRC they even published some of the correspondence about the withdrawal advertising. However that incident served notice on Car and similar magazines that their main source of revenue could be switched off if they didn't toe the line.
It was not until Top Gear on the BBC started to get more outspoken and newspapers devoted more columns to motoring that things gradually improved. As far as I can remember Clarkson taking on Vauxhall was the first time in UK that a major manufacturer had a car really slated and that broke the mould.
C
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Pugugly refers to LJK being "missed". Indeed his absence from the pages of Car is the main reason I stopped buying the magazine. But what happened to him? I notice that Amazon.com doesn't list any new books by him for 5 years or so. Has he stopped writing books and moved on to something else? Or has he died?
I've posted this question on several other motoring forums, and no-one seems to know.
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Chris,
"Pugugly refers to LJK being "missed". "
Like you I felt his absence from the Car was a great loss.
He wrote a long article in last weeks Telegraph Motoring supplement(26 Dec) and still writes on a variety of subjects - including HiFi.
Do a Google for LKJ Setright - using upper case for LKJ.
C
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Good golly Cardew. You're right! Always trust Google. But I still think he's had a bit of a fallow period for the last decade or so. At one time, he was pushing out articles on all kinds of subjects for car magazines, lifestyle mags, shooting magazines, etc, + many pieces of newspaper journalism. Looks like he's back in circulation again.
I've always been fascinated by LJK since reading an angry rant in one issue of CAR in which George Bishop (RIP) tore into LJK for his "eccentrice" personal lifestyle. Eccentric in what way I wonder? George didn't go into details.
Oh and how about George's column? It was always the first thing I read in the magazine, and was sure to give me several good belly-laughs. What a job he had. Here was a guy writing for the world's most pretigious motoring magazine who admitted he didn't know much about cars, couldn't drive very well, and actually wasn't very interested in cars at all! But, oh boy, he LOVED fine wine and good food! He got flown all around europe on various junkets, and his columns consisted mainly of details of the wining and dining he did. Occasionally he would deign to mention a few words about the car he had apparently been "road testing" (usually less than a paragraph or so), and those words were usually complaints - he couldn't turn the radio on, the indicators were on the wrong side, or the aircon didn't work properly etc. I don't think he ever made a comment on a car's dynamic abilities. What a column.
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As for CAR mag' nowadays, well it seems to be edited by teenagers.... (say no more) :( :( :(
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'Drive On! A Social History Of The Motor Car' is LJK Setright's new book, published late November I think. The piece in the paper was an extract. Like some fellow backroomers my experience of car writing was spoiled by Setright and Bishop in 70's CAR magazine. The book by the way, is £17.50 online and worth every penny.
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