Bishop and his committee leapt into action, finding the first investor in the owner of the Beach Hotel — a contribution of 25 guineas. Perhaps more importantly, Bishop convinced his boss at the Daily Dispatch that his vision was more than a pipe dream.
A staggering 42,000 people turned out for the first South African Grand Prix on December 27 1934. By the second grand prix race in 1936, the spectators had doubled and Bishop and his committee were paying £500 per head for the top eight drivers, including the likes of Jean-Pierre Wimille.
From 1934 to 1939 Bishop’s vision paid off in spades as huge crowds flocked to East London in trains, ships and cars, rivalling any sports event in the southern hemisphere. Not only did the city establish a strong motor racing culture, it lapped up the attention and the large tourist spend that came with it. Bishop and the Daily Dispatch boosted motor racing in East London and set the foundations for the iconic Grand Prix races of the 50s and 60s.
Sources: Daily Dispatch Pictorial Edition, 1935
Supplementary material : Off the Circuit: A South African Town Makes Grand Prix History by Glenn Hollands
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Dispatch behind the wheel as East London raced to international Grand Prix glory
Image: SUPPLIED
A slow news day at the Dispatch can have surprising results. When Daily Dispatch motoring editor, Edward “Brud” Bishop took his “sweetheart' on a Sunday meander along the newly constructed looped road on the West Bank of East London he was fretting about the lack of a motoring story for the week ahead.
Bishop returned to the Dispatch newsroom to begin punting the idea of a major motor race in the then little-known corner of 1930s Southern Africa. Apart from the newly constructed divisional council public road, Bishop had little to work with; no sponsors, no money and certainly no famous international racing luminaries champing to make a risky and expensive trip to East London.
Using his journalism connections, Bishop began to lobby internationally. On October 22 1934, he got a startling break. American racer and millionaire Whitney Straight and his brother Michael cabled an offer to compete and bring along British legend Richard Seaman.
Daily Dispatch celebrates 150 years of publishing
Bishop and his committee leapt into action, finding the first investor in the owner of the Beach Hotel — a contribution of 25 guineas. Perhaps more importantly, Bishop convinced his boss at the Daily Dispatch that his vision was more than a pipe dream.
A staggering 42,000 people turned out for the first South African Grand Prix on December 27 1934. By the second grand prix race in 1936, the spectators had doubled and Bishop and his committee were paying £500 per head for the top eight drivers, including the likes of Jean-Pierre Wimille.
From 1934 to 1939 Bishop’s vision paid off in spades as huge crowds flocked to East London in trains, ships and cars, rivalling any sports event in the southern hemisphere. Not only did the city establish a strong motor racing culture, it lapped up the attention and the large tourist spend that came with it. Bishop and the Daily Dispatch boosted motor racing in East London and set the foundations for the iconic Grand Prix races of the 50s and 60s.
Sources: Daily Dispatch Pictorial Edition, 1935
Supplementary material : Off the Circuit: A South African Town Makes Grand Prix History by Glenn Hollands
DispatchLIVE
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