Britain’s First World Champion – Neville Hay looks at the life and times of Mike Hawthorn – Winter 2018/19, Volume 01 issue 02

When `Mike` Hawthorn won the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship in 1958 he became the first British driver ever to achieve this. It was his last race.  Hawthorn was a star and he acted the part. He was perceived as a hero but he didn’t look like the other stars – he was tall, but he was blonde, he wore a bow tie, he loved his `grog` (beer), and he even called his dog ‘Grogger.’

John Michael Hawthorn was born on the 10th April 1929 in Mexborough, Yorkshire, the only son of Leslie and Winifred Hawthorn. Leslie Hawthorn was in the motor trade and the family moved to Farnham, Surrey in 1931 to be nearer Brooklands. Many of Leslie’s engineering clients raced there and it was an important part of his business.