LJK Setright

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Leonard John Kensell Setright (born August 10, 1931 in London , Great Britain ; † September 7, 2005 ibid) was a British journalist who wrote as LJK Setright in books and magazine articles, mainly about automobiles, motorcycles and music. Setright achieved cult status in Great Britain and the USA thanks to his technically precise, stylistically very dissolute articles . An obituary described him as the " doyen of British automotive journalism."

biography

LJK Setright was born in London. His parents were Australian immigrants of the Jewish faith. Setright's father Henry was an engineer who, among other things, had constructed a ticket machine for buses and trams ( Setright Ticket Machine ). After completing school in Winchmore Hill, London, and after completing military service with the Royal Air Force after World War II , he studied law at the University of London . From 1955 Setright worked as a lawyer in the British capital for a few years , but loathed the profession. In 1960 Setright became a freelance journalist. Despite a lack of technical training, he preferred to write on technical topics, including for Machine Age magazine . He acquired the necessary knowledge self-taught . From 1965 he was an employee of the public relations department of the tire manufacturer Firestone ; a source reports that he influenced the development of radial tires . From 1970 Setright worked full-time as a journalist and author.

Setright was a car lover. He developed a particular preference for the small series manufacturer Bristol Cars . Setright also valued the Honda brand because of the supposedly advanced design elements ; he drove a Prelude Coupé for many years .

Setright was considered an eccentric. In public, he wore flashy tailored suits, a monocle , a walking stick and a long beard.

Setright was married twice. His first wife committed suicide in a Bristol in 1980. Setright then temporarily moved to a Lubavitch congregation in Texas, where he regained and deepened his Jewish faith. In recent years, Setright has been recognized as an expert in shafts .

Setright, who had been a heavy smoker for decades, died in 2005 in the London borough of Surbiton of complications from lung cancer.

Automotive journalist

From 1970 Setright was the author and vehicle tester of the specialist magazine Car . He worked for the magazine for 33 years and became its "most prominent author". For the past few years he has been writing for Autocar . Many of his articles have been taken over by other magazines. In addition, Setright wrote numerous books on the subject of cars and motorcycles.

Setright was avowedly partisan. He was considered a journalist “who had an opinion on everything and was not afraid to propagate the truth as he perceived it.” Bristol was one of his favorite brands. He was one of the few journalists whom the press-critical Bristol owner Tony Crook trusted and who were regularly given the opportunity to test drives well into the 1990s. Setright was often the first journalist to present new Bristol models to the press. He kept this privilege until the last new development, the fighter . In 1974 and 1998 he published monographs for the Bristol brand, which have now reached four-figure pound prices in antiquarian books . In his magazine articles he withdrew from any criticism the idiosyncratic, technically obsolete and hardly in demand vehicles of Bristol with reference to traditions:

Tradition is a responsibility, not a privilege. The longer a tradition can be kept up, the more justifiable is its continuance.

“ Tradition means responsibility, not privilege. The longer a tradition can be sustained, the more justifiable is its continued existence. "

In contrast, he was aloof from AC Cars . The AC 289 Sports, for example, a late Cobra variant for the European market, he considered a “thoroughly bad car,” but openly admitted that he was probably the only one who saw it that way.

According to Setright, "always a lady:" Bristol 412

Setright's articles were stylistically extraordinary. He wrote lyrically, mannered and "liked to put on very thick". He also incorporated comments with references to classical philosophy, Hebrew sagas and texts by Rudyard Kipling in articles about current models by contemporary manufacturers . Occasionally he also took bizarre approaches. He wrote a test report on a Citroën entirely in verse. Another post was written entirely in Latin ; he provided the translation in a later edition. The Bristol 412 , which he particularly valued, he considered

a car that is always a lady ..., retaining her manners where another might be revealed as a bitch.

“ A car that is always a lady ... that maintains her manners even in situations where others turn out to be sluts. "

music

In 1957 Setright founded a choir in London. He also played the clarinet . At times he wrote tech-related articles for specialist magazines such as Hi-Fi World .

Literature by LJK Setright

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alan Judd: Full and fearless life. www.thespectator.co.uk, October 22, 2005, accessed December 11, 2017 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e N.N .: LJK Setright. www.telegraph.co.uk, September 17, 2005, accessed December 8, 2017 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Mark Williams: LJK Setright. www.theguardian.com, September 19, 2005, accessed December 8, 2017 .
  4. ↑ a b c Gavin Green: The Story of Car Magazine Part 1 , October 22, 2012.
  5. ^ A b Trevor Legate: Cobra: The First 40 Years , MBI Publishing Company LLC, 2006, ISBN 9780760324233 , p. 254.
  6. ^ LJK Setright: Bristol Fashion - Fighter . In: Auctocar of December 1, 1999.
  7. ↑ a b N.N .: L. J. K. Setright - Motoring journalist whose acerbic writings enthralled aficionados and outraged environmentalists. Obituary in The Times, October 6, 2005.
personal data
SURNAME Setright, LJK
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Setright, Leonard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British journalist and author
DATE OF BIRTH August 10, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH September 7, 2005
Place of death London