Bernie: The Biography of Bernie Ecclestone is the story of a working-class man born with an almost infallible Midas touch. His genius for making money took him from a quiet upbringing in rural Suffolk to the world's stage. And he made the world his stage, taking the greatest show on earth – the Formula 1 World Championship – to almost every part of the globe.



As a child, Bernie Ecclestone got up at five in the morning to deliver newspapers on two separate rounds, then collected cakes to resell at a profit in the school playground. In his early twenties he could swagger through London's tough cauldron of used car sales, Warren Street, where his swift, smart sales technique earned him the respect of the street's shrewdest dealers along with the nickname 'the Whippet'.



This man, the ultimate risk-taker, learned how to combine his mastery of negotiation and political manoeuvre with his love of motor racing, shaping Formula 1 into the world's richest sport – and making himself one of Britain's richest citizens. His journey to power is a business story that ranks among the most amazing of modern times, the story of a charismatic man who would never give up, no matter what, and became one of the UK's most successful – and controversial – businessmen.



This thoughtful biography by Susan Watkins, who has known Bernie as a friend for thirty years, paints a full picture of the complex billionaire who once told her ‘I've hurt people'. As a Formula 1 insider, with privileged access to senior figures in the sport, she examines every aspect of Bernie's life and brings a wealth of insight and detail to a character still making headlines at the age of eighty.

Key features of the book

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  Within the Formula 1 world, friends, colleagues, associates and enemies alike have had their say: respectful, amusing, exasperated.


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  In Bernie: The Biography of Bernie Ecclestone, Susan Watkins gives her insider's view of the whole panoply of his astonishing multi-billion dollar world.


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  Her husband, Formula 1's on-track medical supremo Professor Sid Watkins, has supplied Susan with countless anecdotes of his close relationship with Bernie and their working together on and off the circuit.


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  Members of Bernie's family, including Bernie's late sister, have contributed their unique knowledge about Bernie's youth.


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  Bernie's early professional life is recorded through interviews with his friends and colleagues from Bexleyheath.


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  From Warren Street, memories of Bernie as the used-car dealer: but for Bernie: The Biography of Bernie Ecclestone many of these unique stories would be lost as several of the contributors have passed on.


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  Even his tailor offers a view of the indomitable Mr Ecclestone – and his inate sense of style.


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  Sir Frank Williams provides an insightful Foreword.

What they say about Bernie

'He has rather a tough image, but he is a great deal more fun than people imagine... He is a man with a big heart, a loyal friend, and a doting father.'

Sir Frank Williams



'Bernie is a most remarkable man and has an astonishing brain... He probably has an extra lobe, like Einstein was thought to have.'

Professor Sid Watkins



'Personal relationships are important to Bernie... Bernie's the softest-hearted person I know.'

Max Mosley



About the author



Susan Watkins is an experienced author who has written acclaimed biographies of Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I and Jane Austen. She has lectured internationally on historical subjects, contributed to television documentaries and children's television, and has recently written a stage play and screenplay on 'The Guinea Pig Club' and Sir Archibald McIndoe, the maverick Second World War plastic surgeon.



She is married to Professor Sid Watkins, the celebrated neurosurgeon and former 'official' Formula 1 medical officer and, of course, Bernie Ecclestone's choice for the position of FOCA surgeon. Sid has been responsible, with Bernie, for raising the medical support standards at Formula 1 circuits to the maximum level possible and equal to the facilities in the highest-grade trauma centres. As a close friend and confidant of Bernie, his contributions to this book have been extensive.



 

Publisher: Haynes Publishing

Status: Out of Print (No Stock)

Number of pages: 416

Colour images: 25

Black & white images: 10

Binding: HDB

Language: English

Origin: UK