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The English Cricket Team might be limbering up to defend The Ashes, but one
world-famous Knight has already scored a ton.
Sir Alec Issigonis, designer of the post war Morris Minor and world-famous
Mini, was born 100 years ago today, 18 November 1906. Originally from Smyrna,
Turkey, a young Alec Issigonis moved to England in 1922 after his Greek father
died.
He lived with his Bavarian-born mother in London while studying engineering,
later becoming a draughtsman and working for Morris before World War II.
While designing army vehicles he created the Morris Minor, a familiar sight
on Australian roads, and practically all of the British Empire, for more than 30
years.
The Suez Crisis of 1956 prompted the need for more fuel-efficient, affordable
cars, so the MINI was born, using a version of the Morris Minor engine, turned
around in the engine bay, mounted above the gearbox and driving the front
wheels. This automotive revolution defined the layout of generations of small
city cars.
A forceful and authoritarian figure, Sir Alec often insisted “I did not
invent the Mini, I designed it”. A technical genius, he called mathematics “the
enemy of every creative human being”.
He had a dictum “never copy the opposition,” but was quite happy for others
to copy his work, which they did in large numbers.
Sir Alec was no fan of luxury or comfort items in cars. He hated radios and
wanted firm seats to keep drivers alert behind the wheel. Even a heater was
optional, and passengers pulled a rope to open the doors when inside. The 2006
MINI Cooper boasts airbags, air conditioning, sports seats, CD players as well
as satellite navigation.
When the MINI was launched in 1959 it was the cheapest car Britons could buy
at GBP 496. But because it was so much fun to drive, wealthier drivers soon
latched on. Sir Alec even took The Queen for a ride around Hyde Park after her
sister’s husband Lord Snowdon had bought one as a London runabout.
Sir Alec was knighted in 1969 and retired in 1971 but continued consulting
until 1987. He died in 1988, aged 82.
In all, 5.3 million MINI ‘Classic’ models were built from 1959 to 2000. Since
2002, more than 850,000 new generation MINIs have been built in Oxford, on the
same site where the British Motor Corporation used to build the Morris Mini
Minor.
Note to editors: A more detailed biography is available on request
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