By Beverly Rae Kimes

Every London bobby and taxi driver knew the southeast corner of Grosvenor Square in Mayfair. During the late twenties, at least a few, and sometimes as many as a dozen, Bentleys were lined up along the curb. The number depended upon whether the four “Bentley Boys,” whose homes adjoined, were having a party. “I question if we shall ever see again as cheery a crowd,” Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin wrote in 1932. “We were always seen together; we had the same manner of speech; the same jokes among ourselves.” The Bentley Boys skied in the Alps, sailed in the Mediterranean, went shooting in Scotland, cavorted together on the Riviera, and raced W.O. Bentley’s cars rather well. Their dusk-to-dawn parties in London were the talk of the town. This is the story of one of the Boys and the Bentley that was parked outside his home on Grosvenor Square.

Although some of them demurred, all of the Bentley Boys were rich by the standards of the day. The variable was how rich. Of the dozen, Glen Kidston was in the topmost percentile. Arguably, he was the most glamorous. In this writer’s view, he was the most handsome. Matinee-idol looks, they said then. He could have been the invention of a scriptwriter with a vivid imagination. His life was an adventure from beginning to end.

Grosvenor Square had seen a plethora of Kidston motor cars: Salmson, Baby Peugeot, AC, Hillman, Chrysler and, most memorably, a short-chassis H6c Hispano-Suiza with a Hooper body that had lapped Brooklands at 84 mph. His Bentleys thus far were a 3-Litre Speed Model and the same displacement Le Mans Vanden Plas tourer.

His first race as a team member came at Le Mans in 1929, which a Bentley had won for the two years previous and for which five cars were entered. The race was led by Woolf Barnato (W.O. Bentley’s financial angel) and Tim Birkin in the new 61⁄2 Litre Speed Six Bentley, with the rest of the Boys following in 41⁄2 Liters. Kidston was paired with Jack Dunfee. Strong opposition was expected from the American contingent (Chrysler and duPont) but failed to materialize. The Howe/Rubin Bentley retired after a magneto cross shaft sheared. The other four cars marched across the finish line like toy soldiers, the 61⁄2 first, the Kidston-Dunfee second. This was a fine debut for Kidston as a Bentley works driver; not only did he handle the car well but he performed flawlessly as a team player.

Read more about Glen Kidston in the Back Issue - Volume 44 Number 1