Stars and their cars...

Terry Waite is a classic car fan and in the early 1980s commissioned a Cheltenham firm to rebuild his 1971 MGB.

In 1987 as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s special envoy he was sent to Lebanon to negotiate the release of journalist John Mccarthy who was being held hostage in the war torn region.

The mission went horribly wrong when Terry Waite was himself kidnapped and held captive for four years in solitary confinement.

On his eventual return to the UK the MG Club of Britain had his car restored as a welcome home gift.

The picture was taken by the late Mike Charity, a much-respected local freelance photographer.

Donald Campbell was the fastest man on land and water in the 1950s and ’60s.

He was also a dashing national hero.

When Sir George Dowty launched a new kind of motor boat called the Turbocraft, Britain’s speed ace was signed up as managing director of the firm, primarily for the publicity his involvement would attract.

For his company car, Donald Campbell chose the Mark 11 Jaguar saloon, 3.8 litre, manual with overdrive version in Cotswold Blue you see pictured.

In this fine mode of conveyance he was seen zipping about the county for a time, but the relationship wasn’t to last.

Sir George and DC had a falling out and the Turbocraft project was sold off.

John “Thunder Fingers” Entwistle was a founder member of The Who and lived for many years in a house on the outskirts of Stow-on-the-wold until his death from a heart attack before a show in Las Vegas in 2002.

Although he didn’t have a driving licence, the maestro bass guitarist commissioned a coachbuilding company to convert a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow saloon into a one-off estate car so that his Irish wolfhounds could travel in the back.

Mike Procter turned Gloucestershire into Proctershire during his time as captain of the county cricket side.

An inspirational skipper and a genuine all-rounder, at least the equal of his contemporaries Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan and Richard Hadlee, Procter led the club to great success – particularly in one-day tournaments.

In his autobiography Caught In The Middle, Procter explains that when he retired from cricket in the early 1980s financial restrictions made it impossible for him to take money back to his home country of South Africa.

So instead he paid £27, 000 cash for a Rolls Royce Silver Spirit (like the one pictured) and had it shipped back to Durban where he sold it for a profit.

Arthur Negus was everyone’s favourite antiques expert often seen on TV from the 1960s to the 1980s.

As a leading presenter of Going For A Song and Antiques Roadshow he was welcomed into British homes on Sundays at tea time for many years.

Most apt in a way, as his rich west country tones were as rich as the cream on a freshly baked scone.

He worked for the local auctioneers Bruton Knowles and lived in an apartment in Queen’s Road, Cheltenham on the site of what used to be Cypher’s Nursery.

His mode of transport was a white Rover P5, similar to the one pictured here.

A car built for comfort rather than speed, as was Arthur Negus himself.

Diana Dors made the transformation from 1950s glamour kitten, “Britain’s Marilyn Monroe” as she was often billed, to well respected character actor during the course of her career.

Born Diana Fluck, the lass from Swindon made a promotional visit to Cavendish House in Cheltenham in February 1984, just three months before her death from ovarian cancer.

She is pictured here outside the Cheltenham department store with PR manager Pam Smiles and the general manager Trevor Allinson.

The magnificent 1949 Delahaye Roadster she was given when 17, at which time she couldn’t drive, was auctioned a few years ago in California for £3m.