FOLKLORE: THE 1947 TT
If you think the post-covid bounce is good, imagine if we’d been at war.
Thissummer won’t be the firsttime a pent-up lust formotorcycles has been unleashed after a hellish period of biking celibacy. The first Isle of Man TT after World War 2 took place in 1947 and was an unprecedented festival of speed, excitement and freedom. In fact, according to the late Murray Walker – a road racing fanatic who went to almost every TT from 1923 until 1978 – the era from ’47 to the mid-50s was the most joyous period, with racers and spectators revelling in the ability to do what they wanted while not getting shot at or bombed. ‘Britain and the world had been starved of motorcycle sport since 1939,’ Murray told me in 2019, ‘and all of a sudden you had this fantastic outburst of enthusiasm. It was a magical atmosphere. I had just come out of four and a half years in the army [Murray was a tank commander] so the contrast between fighting for my life to this wonderful atmosphere of freedom, enjoyment and riding a bike around the Isle of Man was just magic. Pure magic.’
Terry Moore, 87, is an Isle of Man local who watched the ’47 races near Ago’s leap and went on to be a TT marshal for 65 years. He remembers that atmosphere as clearly as Murray: ‘It was fantastic,’ he says. ‘Thousands of people would be walking along the promenade and there were so many day trippers – there were far more ferries back then, and they had no capacity limits. There weren’t a lot of bikes because most people didn’t have the money after the war, so everyone would walk or get coaches everywhere.
‘The crowds were massive – far more than today,’ says Terry. ‘Take the 33rd Milestone for instance – there would be coach after coach going up there dropping the day trippers off. I couldn’t believe how many people there were – it was like the pictures you see of the biggest foreign GPS all the way to the Creg and right down to Brandish. If they have a good year now, they wouldn’t have a quarter of what they had then. It was so great to be there after years of war. Everyone was so friendly.’
Peter Kissack, 90, is another local who watched the ’47 race and remembers the riders’ unfettered zest for life back in Douglas. ‘In 1947 there were Nortons, AJS and Guzzi factory teams and they used to have water pistol fights in their digs,’ he says. ‘The Moto Guzzi team were in the Douglas Bay Hotel, Norton were always at the Castle Mona, and they would go to each other’s hotels and water pistol everyone.
I saw them putting potatoes and bangers down the exhausts of each other’s cars too. It was great fun and it was lovely being amongst it all.’ Terry also spent his time milling about with his heroes. ‘In 1947 the big names were Bill Doran, Harold Daniell [who won the Senior in 1947], Artie Bell and all that crowd. Me and my pals would be up at the grandstand all the time getting stickers and hand-outs from Castrol and then hanging around the garages where the teams were.’
And when Terry says garages, that’s exactly what he means – in those days most teams were based in residents’ domestic garages. ‘In the 1960s we had Billy Guthrie [who got three TT podiums] in our garage and later Ron Haslam was in there. Back in ’47 we knew who was where and used to hang about watching the mechanics and riders – it was a good atmosphere. There were no restrictions, so we could talk to whoever we wanted and we used to make sure the riders and mechanics had plenty of tea and biscuits. A few years later me and a pal were hanging about outside the Norton garage and we ended up helping them push start Ray Amm’s fully faired race bike – the big aluminium cigar thing.’
‘You could mix with the riders after the races too,’ adds Peter. ‘There was a tremendous party atmosphere in 1947. There was a riders’ night at the Glen Helen Hotel and they rode little bicycles round the dance floor, pushing each other off and all sorts. It was a wonderful evening. You don’t get that now.’
Just as the teams based themselves in local garages, a lot of the riders lodged with local families. ‘Ray
Amm [1954 TT winner] and his wife stayed at my girlfriend’s house,’ says Peter, whose jobs at the Steam Packet ferry company and then with the government licencing department meant he met all the star riders. ‘Cromie
Mccandless (Grand Prix winner and third in the 125cc world championship in 1951] married a girl that I worked with in the licencing office. All the riders came through there – Geoff Duke, Artie Bell, Bob Macintyre. Of course in those days we got car racers coming over too – Mike Hawthorn, Stirling Moss, all that lot.’ Though the top TT riders in 1947 were world class – the TT was a Grand Prix back then don’t forget – the bikes were less so. The war had decimated most industries and by 1947 motorcycle manufacturers were still struggling to turn a profit. Consequently there weren’t many factory teams – only Norton, AJS and Velocette entered the Junior, for example. And the bikes themselves were not exactly cutting edge, with the vast majority being no different to bikes raced a decade before.
But despite that, the racing was enthralling. Partly this was because there were no restrictions on where you could spectate, so if you were lucky enough to have transport, you could plonk yourself anywhere on the course. ‘People would be sitting on the hedges, feet over the
‘It was so great to be there after years of war’
edge. And if anything happened, you moved your feet pretty quick,’ says Terry.
And the circuit itself was a far tougher proposition than it is today. ‘The roads were atrocious,’ says Peter. ‘To my mind, the best ever lap I’ve seen was Harold Daniell’s in 1947 because the condition of the road and the narrowness was unbelievable. The widening and resurfacing that’s taken place means it isn’t the same course really. The 33rd was a series of very difficult corners – it’s now one big sweep. Windy Corner and Brandish are much wider now.’ Terry agrees. He spent 25 years as a marshal at Brandish and eventually moved because of changes to the course. ‘The improvements over the years have been terrific,’ he says, ‘but I think they’ve spoiled a lot of it. Brandish, for example, was a difficult second gear corner in 1947, where you braked from maximum speed. The riders had to be pretty skilful. Now it’s just a big open bend with a grassy bank either side. When they changed it, that’s when I packed up going up there and became a marshal at Greba Castle – they could show their skills there.’
By 1949 Murray Walker was commentating at the TT for the BBC and still feeling the joyous release from the shackles of war. ‘I was the bright-eyed innocent coming into this great world of Geoff Duke, Bob Mcintyre, Reg Armstrong, Jack Brett, Ray Amm, Archie Bell, Johnny Lockett…’ he said. ‘And in the ’50s you had the magic of Geoff Duke, the lone Englishman on a rather outdated single-cylinder Norton battling against the four-cylinder Gileras and beating them. By 1957, the TT had works entries from Gilera, MV, Mondial, DKW, NSU, Jawa, BSA, Velocette… and those are just the ones I can remember.’
Murray was commentating alongside his father Graham, a TT winner and ex-norton factory rider. But unfortunately the three other BBC commentators were less qualified. ‘The only people in the five man commentary team who actually knew what they were talking about were my father
and myself,’ said Murray. ‘I don’t mean that unkindly, but the BBC had to find three other commentators and it’s a
‘You could mix with the riders after the races. There was a party atmosphere in 1947’
very expensive business so they used BBC people. David Southwood’s usual program was called Seated and Circle – he was a film critic.
‘I remember at the TT in 1951, my old man says, “Geoff Duke is due at the Creg ny Baa now, so over to David Southwood.” And David says, “Perfect timing Graham. I’ve just seen Geoff Duke come round the left hand bend at Kate’s Cottage at the top of the hill, looking up this steep descent to me here at Creg ny Baa. He’s coming down to an applauding crowd, I can see the sun glinting off his white helmet. Oh it’s a seagull.” He really didn’t have a clue.’
Enthused by those post war TTS, Peter Kissack decided he wanted to see more racing and in 1951 decided to ride to the first German GP after the war – no small task given the state of mainland Europe. ‘I had a Norton 500T Trials with a friend on the back and my brother came with us on a trials Bantam [a 125cc two-stroke making 4.5bhp on a good day]. I used road tyres that had been used in the 1951 TT – we used to get them from either Avon or Dunlop for five bob a tyre. ‘It was good fun. We were made very welcome by the Germans, who had never seen a Norton trials bike and Norton were the world champions at the time. The trip down was great, though Europe was still pretty bashed about and coming back we had some trouble crossing the Rhine because of the damaged bridges.’
Not content with that, in 1954 Peter and four mates drove a Morris Cowley hire car from the Isle of Man to the Spanish GP in Barcelona, getting grandstand seats thanks to a letter of introduction from the Manx Motorcycle Club. But it’s that first post war TT in 1947 he has the fondest memories of. ‘I remember coming back from spectating and going to the Cadbury’s tent at the back of the grandstand and mixing with all the riders. It was such a tremendous atmosphere that I don’t suppose we’ll ever see again.’
‘He’s coming down to an applauding crowd, I can see the sun glinting off his white helmet. Oh it’s a seagull’