Arthur – an innovator who’ll be greatly missed
I first met Arthur Francis in about t 1963/4, shortly after I bought my first Lambretta, an Li125 Series 3 in Duck-Egg Blue. I was an inveterate ‘tweaker', always wanting to change what I owned – and visiting Arthur's shop in Watford was a revelation after the dullness of speedway in Acton, where I bought the scooter.
At that time, scooters occupied 324 St Albans Road, butt ArthurAth also l had No.326 next door, which sold small Fiat 500s and 600s. He lived above No.324 with his wife Diana.
Arthur was an inveterate salesman, innovator and seller of his ideas and he was lucky to have people like Keith Woodhead with him, who could design and implement things like 12-volt lighting; also Ken Peters, who seemed to know the spares manuals off by heart and was an expert at ‘mixing and matching' parts from different models.
Whatever ideas Arthur (and often his team members) came up with, somehow they managed to put them into production, albeit in reality, quite limited production – although some, like the Bultacocylindered 250 existed more in his head than reality. TThere is no doubt that there aare many more ‘S' types in the wworld today than ever came frrom Watford (or later
RRay Kemp).
For all his worldwide fame inn the scooter world, Arthur wwas not a businessman in the acccountancy sense and his unnderlying company changed naame frequently; latterly it was DVV Francis Ltd (named after his wife),i trading as Arthur Francis Scooters which relocated to premises under the railway arches in New Road, well off the beaten track.
I eventually moved to the US, but continued to meet with Arthur about once a quarter when I was in England in what he always called ‘Ray White's Caff' (actually Brasserie Blanc in Waterloo). Our lunches usually started shortly after midday when my train arrived and finished at about 5pm when the staff threw us out. Perhaps surprisingly, we almost never talked about scooters, or the past – I don't think either of us wanted to.
I miss him greatly.