The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Weird and wacky races
Eccentric experiments from the past unveiled
A bicycle with wings and a Land Rover that turns into a hovercraft are just a couple of British inventions that failed to take off – but there are many more.
An archive of weird and wacky innovations has been unearthed by an amateur historian as he trawled through a collection ofimagesspanningthe last 100 years.
Businessman Chris Hodge, from Chislehurst, south east London, has collected more than 250,000 images and is having them all digitally scanned and archived.
The eccentric inventions of years gone by include what appears to be an early version of a videophone, an amphibious Lambretta scooter, a Land Rover hovercraft and a bicycle with wings.
Other photographs include a portable hairdryer, a mini-submarine, a sideby-side tandem and a backfacing sidecar.
The collection, most of whichhas notbeenseen for several decades, also features photos of factories, military history, boats, motorsport, medical history, hobbies, rare trucks and cars.
Easyart.com, a website for posters and art prints, has begun to sell a selection of the imagesfrom Mr Hodge’s Stilltime Collection.
Mr Hodge, 56, who has been collecting the images for over a decade, said: “These images are a captivating snapshot of a bygone era.
“It’s wonderful to be able to reveal the often-hidden world of our past. Some of these shots are the only record of their kind, showinghoweven the most simple things were done completely differently.
“It’s a world of discovery and a unique insight into the way things were.”
Gyr King, founding director of Easyart, said the collection is a “hidden gem of British social history”.
He added: “The vast majority of these images have remained unseen for several decades and shine a light on the extraordinary inventions, machines, people, places and events in Britain’s past.”
The photos, taken from various British trade and business-to-business media titles including Motorcycle News, Speed & Power Magazine and Nursing Times, document Britons trying to invent the next big thing.
The20tonnesof original, largely British material is currently in a specially built, air-conditioned and atmospherically controlled containment unit inGreenwich, London.