“The fast start, a good lead, then an unlucky end; this was to be the familiar Simpson story .”

With a racing nickname of ‘Unlucky Jim’ there’s really no doubt as to which side favour fell for James Douglas Jerrold Hampson-Simpson, though he entered races as J H Simpson. But despite his moniker of misfortune, he actually achieved plenty, racking up 14 continental GP victories, setting seven TT lap records – including the remarkable feat of being the first man to record 60mph, 70mph and 80mph laps of the Mountain Course – and accrued four third places and a quartet of runner-up finishes, as well as a solitary TT win.

Born in Birmingham to a comfortably off family in the summer of 1898, both his parents were motorcyclists, with his