IF YOU’RE in the mood

for a big read about a legendary small car, I’d recommend the brilliant, wonderfully illustrated and evocative MINI — 60 Years, by the award-winning author Giles Chapman, published by Motorbooks at £24.99 to coincide with its 60th anniversary year. It chronicles the car’s colourful history from its birth in 1959 by design genius Sir Alec Issigonis, through the Swinging Sixties with Twiggy, the Beatles, Monte Carlo rally wins and The Italian Job film with Michael Caine, to the 21st-century MINI of today under the stewardship of BMW.