Lord Nuffield: An Illustrated Life of William Richard Morris, Viscount Nuffield, 1877-1963 (Shire Library)

It is largely a result of the career of motor manufacturerWilliam Richard Morris, Viscount Nuffield, that the university city of Oxford became one of Britain's foremost industrial cities. Leaving school at fourteen he was apprenticed to a bicycle repairer. Only nine months later he set up his own cycle business and from then on his rise to become one of Britain's leading industrialists was almost without setback. He was an astute businessman and an expert mechanic; he saw the need for a small economical car that was of high quality yet could be produced in large numbers. His special talent enabled him to obtain the right parts and to assemble them, and so the first Morris Oxford car appeared in 1913. Production boomed and Morris became a millionaire and was made a peer, but he was generous with his money and gave away over pound;30,000,000 in his lifetime, much of it to hospitals and other medical causes. He also financed the establishment of Nuffield College, Oxford, which bears his title. His name ceased to appear on motorcars after 1983 when Morris Motors was part of British Leyland, but the MG (Morris Garages) badge has survived under British Leyland's successor, Rover Cars. About the author Peter Hull was on the staff of the Vintage Sports-Car Club and a member of the Advisory Council of the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu. Other titles for Shire by this author are: The Vauxhall (currently out of print)