You were asking

Peter Dobson

September 12, 1932 to July 25, 2020

While the You Were Asking column occasionally profiles the lives of motorcyclists, rarely does it publish obituaries. However, Peter Dobson penned many features for Motor Cycle Sport in the old days, then Classic Bike and The Classic Motorcycle from respectively Mike Nicks's and Bob Currie's tenure, through to the early 1990s.

Even as illness took over his life eight years ago, Peter remained a regular TCM reader and enjoyed the YWA column.

As well as painting a picture with words, Peter was a great raconteur: "As I effortlessly motored south down the Al to Hatfield on a big single, a motorcycle approached from behind. First I saw its lights on the road then heard it get nearer and nearer until it was too near. Suddenly the rider, Vernon Michaels (name changed to spare his blushes), poked his head under my arm, looked at the speedometer and was gone into the night:'

"Why?" I later asked.

Grinning, 'Vernon' uttered : "Because my bike doesn't have aspeedo:'

Peter's good friend Dennis Butler, himself a vintage enthusiast, compiled this tribute, beginning with Peter Dobson's opening words from his book 'Diesels out of King's Cross:

"The best remembered sounds of my boyhood are of the LNER mainline out of King's Cross. One could lie snug in bed on a wild night and hear