My childhood hero, James Hunt

Childhood hero

Who was your childhood hero?

I’ve been meaning to write this post for ages, but I just saw something on Facebook that made me realise that today would be very apt. A day to remember my hero on the anniversary of his death.

I love Motor Racing, especially Formula One – something else I have to thank my Dad for.  As children, my brother and I spent many weekends at Brands Hatch and Silverstone.  In those days the security around the drivers and paddock/pits was minimal.  You could see the cars up close and sit in some of the older ones, and you could easily meet and talk to the drivers.  We’d be up at the crack of dawn, head off to a race meeting, park IN the drivers car park (Dad knew all the security people in those days) and we’d wait, autograph books in hand to meet our hero’s.

My biggest hero was James Hunt, I worshiped him.  I met him on a number of occasions, there are photos of the two of us together, sadly I don’t know where they are today.  I was a member of his fan club, run by his brother, and would often get personally addressed responses to letters I sent to him back in the late 1970’s.

James Hunt

Obviously, as an under 10-year-old I was unaware of his maverick lifestyle in those days!!  But he had an aura about him, that, even at that age, I could feel.  He made time to talk to a young girl, in a hideous duffle coat (thanks for that Mum) and was always happy to stop for a photo opportunity and signature.

James Hunt my hero
James Hunt my hero

We had no idea just how lucky we were in those days, we met all of the Grand Prix drivers – all of them.

Model of James Hunt's car made by Dad
Model of James Hunt’s car made by Dad

James Hunt will always have a place in my heart.  He was special to me. He died of a heart attack 20 years ago today.  I miss his voice on the BBC Commentary, I wish I’d got to meet him again as an adult, something I do regret.

Who was your childhood hero?  I’d love to know.

 

28 thoughts on “Childhood hero

  1. Oh how lucky you were indeed Mary. F1 is one of the few sports that I actually enjoy. I still remember Ayrton Senna’s fatal crash. I also once had a date with an F1 driver, although I’d rather forget about that ha! My childhood hero though was probably Adam Ant – I wanted to run away with him and just a tad obsessed haha!

    1. Yes, so do I – an awful day. I met Senna a few times, another special man. oh, Adam Ant – my brother was and is a Huge Ant fan – he’s met him a number of times. He used to drive me insane playing his Ant Music single over and over when we were kids – I would retaliate with Planet Earth at full volume 🙂

  2. How amazing for you to have been able to meet your hero and what a nice bloke he sounds too! I didn’t really have an heros as a child I think my fads always came and went too quickly!

    1. I don’t suppose I thought any of the things we did as children were amazing at the time, but now I really appreciate all the different things we got to experience – we were very lucky.

  3. My Hubby used to build the parts for the F1 cars up until he moved to a new job. How amazing to have gotten up close to the drivers and sit in the cars! You definitely couldn’t do that these days…well maybe if you were famous and had bags of cash! I didn’t really have a childhood hero, just people that I liked and wish I could meet.

    1. True, my brother and I have managed to get to see most of the drivers over the last few years by getting to Silverstone extremely early and by a bit of blagging, so my niece and nephew both got to met Jenson Button, but in general you can’t get within a million miles of them or the cars – such a shame.

  4. so great you had the chance to meet him, that is lovely! i never had a sports hero or anything like that i just used to love TLC (i still do :p)

  5. I was really into music from around 7 or 8 years old, so most of my heroes were musicians, but I also thought that a few actors and acresses were great. I had a big thing for Steve McQueen and I remember being stunned and upset when my parents told me he was dead!

  6. Wow! What fabulous memories you have! Isn’t it amazing (and sad) how times have changed though? That kind of opportunity is pretty much no-existant now with all the security. Amazing you got to meet your hero! You’ve made me think now about my childhood and who I ‘worshipped’ – have to get back to you on that one! 🙂

    1. Thank you for popping over to my post – will check out the website, I have lots of happy memories of James, and am so chuffed that you’ve taken the time to comment on my blog – thank you.

  7. James Hunt! We were all huge fans of his in our house. My dad once saw him in a garage near where we live (God knows what he was doing in South Wales) and it caused enough excitement for us to almost wet our pants.

    As for my own hero, that was Jo from Little Women because she was a writer. I went on to get a typewriter from my mum and then to become a journalist when I grew up. Oh, and then there was the Bay City Rollers too, but the less said about that the better.

    1. What a great hero and nice to see that it gave you a career too. Oh the Bay City Rollers – me too, I can still remember the BCR bag I had for school and the obligitory tartan scarf!

  8. How wonderful that you got to meet your hero 🙂 And to have such lovely memories. As for mine, hmm, I’ll have to think about that one! #PoCoLo

  9. How very cool of you to have been a racing car groupie and to get to meet your idol! I love learning these things about people, all these interesting bits make up the fabric of interesting lives – duffel coat or not! Thanks so much for linking to #PoCoLo x

  10. Oh, and my childhood hero was Stevie Wonder…. he came to Trinidad when I was a child, and I called his hotel and they put me through to his room – I guess you would, hearing a child’s voice on the line. I asked if he could come and sing at my mother’s birthday party. He said he’d love to but was a bit busy, and sang down the phone instead!

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