A little more on a car launch

Those that enjoyed the two piece feature last weekend on the re-birth of Bentley – and thank you for the many emails about it – may be interested to read a little more.

Firstly, you may recall the success of the red Bentley Turbo press car that attracted so much coverage in many newspapers and magazines. I am delighted that AudlemOnline's photo guru, Alvar Jones, has managed to track down a shot of the very car, seen here.

Those of a romantic inclination may also be interested in what happened for one member of the public relations team after the lengthy stays at the chateau between Angers and Le Mans for the launch in 1982.

I have to admit that my favourite part of the day was choosing the day's menus with Carole, the daughter of the Comte and Comtesse who owned the chateau. Early each morning, she and I would spend ten minutes or so looking to balance the lunch menu in a restaurant with the dinner back at the chateau.

After choosing our evening starter and main course, the menu inevitably ended with me opting for îles flottantes, a meringue poached in custard with a caramel sauce topped with spun sugar, as the pud and then Carole, a very attractive young woman, rolling her hands together suggestively as she asked whether we would like her to make some chocolate truffles to go with our coffee. Her look could only be described as coquettish!

Now, I have to admit it, I felt I was falling for the lovely Carole, but duty called, and thoughts of the family back home, and off to work I went each day, on another 250 miles of high-speed driving.

Little did I know that romance was, however, blossoming between Carole and my Swiss PR colleague. Let us call him Georges, for that is indeed his name. A delightful character with a mischievous sense of humour (and, yes, he was 100% Swiss!) who spoke German, French, English and Italian fluently and even owned a beautiful 1950s Bentley.

Six months earlier, at the Frankfurt Motor Show, he had told me he had received and planned to accept a job offer from Marlborough, the cigarette giant, looking after their Motor Sports programme. Horrified at the loss of Georges, who looked after Rolls-Royce and Bentley's PR across Europe and the Middle East, I talked him out of moving using the rather direct approach of asking how he would carry the premature deaths of so many smokers on his conscience if he worked promoting cigarettes.

A year or so after the Bentley Turbo launch, Georges asked me for dinner in Alsager and said he had something to announce. I had a sneaking suspicion what it might be but was still surprised yet delighted when Carole joined us (from behind a curtain in the restaurant where she had been hiding) and they announced they were to marry.

Unfortunately, as life moves on, I eventually lost contact with Georges and Carole but every now and then, I imagine George's old Bentley parked at home outside the chateau in the Loire valley and really do hope they are still living there, happy ever after.

If you missed the original article a week ago, simply clickhere.

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.