GRAHAM ROBSON PERSIL'S MINI MARATHON

There are times in the life of a freelance motoring writer when you get weird requests and accept unlikely challenges – all, you understand, to keep up with the mortgage demands. It was like that for me from time to time, and probably one of the oddest assignments I can recall was when I was invited to drive a Mini 1000 all round Great Britain in 1979. However, I couldn't just choose any old route I fancied because Persil, the soap powder manufacturer, had set up a particular promotion and wanted their challenge to be authenticated.

Under the headline of Mini Marathon, their advertisers published a map showing