30 Facts About Woolf Barnato

Joel Woolf Barnato was a British financier and racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1920s.

Woolf Barnato achieved three consecutive wins out of three entries in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.

Woolf Barnato was born at Spencer House, 27 St James's Place, London.

Woolf Barnato had a sister, Leah Primrose and a brother, Isaac "Jack" Henry.

In 1897, when Woolf Barnato was two years old, his father died near Madeira during a sea crossing from South Africa to London.

Woolf Barnato inherited his father's fortune, but with the monies placed in trust.

Woolf Barnato was educated at Charterhouse School and Trinity College, Cambridge.

Woolf Barnato collected prizes for motor boat racing, using his Bentley-powered boat 'Ardenrun V'.

Woolf Barnato was a strong swimmer, a good amateur boxer, and played tennis to 'country house level'.

Woolf Barnato took golf lessons at Coombe Hill Golf Club, Kingston, Surrey, with the club professional Archie Compston, a friend of King Edward VIII.

Woolf Barnato purchased his first Bentley, a 3-litre, in 1925,12 months before he acquired the business itself.

Woolf Barnato was a member of a social set of wealthy British motorists known as the "Bentley Boys" who favoured the cars of W O Bentley.

Woolf Barnato was nicknamed "Babe", in ironic deference to his heavyweight boxer's build.

Woolf Barnato had incorporated Baromans Ltd in 1922, which effectively existed as his finance and investment vehicle.

Woolf Barnato held 149,500 of the new shares, meaning that he controlled the company, and became chairman.

Woolf Barnato first went motor racing in 1921, when after importing an eight-litre Locomobile from the United States, he signed-up to race at the Brooklands Easter meeting.

At the start of the 1924 season Woolf Barnato obtained an eight-litre Hispano-Suiza H6C chassis, which he commissioned Jarvis of Wimbledon to build a suitable racing body for.

Woolf Barnato then established an eight-litre class racing record for the car.

Woolf Barnato used the car to win several major Brooklands races, and then partnered by John Duff set a new 3-litre 24-hour record averaging 95.03 miles per hour at Autodrome de Montlhery.

Woolf Barnato later won the Brooklands Six Hour Race and Double Twelve Race in 1930.

In March 1930 at the Carlton Hotel, Cannes, during the Blue Train Races, Woolf Barnato raised the stakes on Rover and its Rover Light Six.

Mulliner-bodied formal saloon in the race; the streamlined fastback "Sportsman Coupe" by Gurney Nutting which he took delivery of on 21 May 1930 became known as the Blue Train Bentley and is regularly mistaken for or erroneously referred to as being the car that raced the Blue Train, while in fact Woolf Barnato named it in memory of his race.

From 1940 to 1945, Woolf Barnato was a wing commander with the Royal Air Force, responsible for the protection of aircraft factories against Luftwaffe bombing raids.

Woolf Barnato continued various low-key business opportunities out of his office on Park Lane.

Woolf Barnato went on to ferry Spitfires, Hurricanes and Wellingtons with the Air Transport Auxiliary during World War II.

Woolf Barnato owned Ardenrun Place, a country house situated near Lingfield, Surrey.

Woolf Barnato owned the nearby Nuthill Farm in Redhill, which was used by his ex-wife Dorothy and his daughters Diana and Virginia at weekends.

Woolf Barnato died at the London Clinic, Devonshire Place, on 27 July 1948 as a result of a thrombosis after an operation for cancer.

Woolf Barnato is buried at St Jude's Church in Englefield Green, Surrey, next to his son-in-law Derek Walker and next to his daughter Diana.

The Sports Car Club of America named its highest award in Barnato's honour; the first Woolf Barnato Award was presented in 1948, and has been presented every year from 1948 to the present.