My father send me some bits of pieces, which arrived yesterday. He now lives very close to where our Maitland ancestors hail from in Normandy. Sadly, the photocopies aren’t really good enough to share, but I’ll see if I can get him to bring over the originals when he’s over next. He also sent me a clipping about his (great) uncleAngus Maitland, who I met once or twice at various weddings. I was always impressed because I’d been told that he had been motorcycle champion before the war, and was still beating the local lads in his later years much to their dismay. Anyway, it was great to see a letter in The Times from his daughter, saying their was nothing new about the antics of Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear:
The Times: January 31, 2008
Track triumphs
A race between a plane and a car is nothing newSir, On reading Melanie Reid’s article about Top Gear and the race between an aeroplane and a car (Jan 28), my immediate reaction was, “So what’s new?”.
My father, Angus Maitland, competed in, and won, races at Brooklands before the First World War, on his Trump-JAP motorcycle. Once he raced against a plane around the circuit, and until his dying day he maintained that the aeroplane won because the pilot cut the corners.
Angela Daniel
Frome, Somerset
a tale of downward social mobility 
Hello, I just Googled my Grandfather, Angus Maitland’s name and your blog came up. Angela Daniel, his daughter is my Mother, and she has photos of Grandpa with his bikes and cars, and even climbing Mont Blanc when he was 18. Please feel free to contact us if you are interested, Regards, Francis Daniel
I met your grandfather a few times. The last being in my mid-teens at my brother’s wedding in the late 70s/early 80s. I remember him complaining that he couldn’t get insurance for his motor bike, and he must have been in his late 80s. I’d love to see some photos of him and if there’s any pictures of his parents I’d love to see those too.