In 1909 Charles Cheers Wakefield came up with a new and highly effective oil to which he gave the name Castrol (so-called because of the castor oil that was a key ingredient). Early Wakefield advertising in the motoring magazines such as The Autocar was worthy but rather dull, but he found a far more effective theme in motor racing and record breaking. His advertisements were not at first illustrated but, when the ‘Golden Age’ of record breaking arrived in the late 1920s,Wakefield was ready. The dramatic appearance of land speed record cars driven by heroes such as Campbell made for compelling and arresting publicity.

It is difficult to find these advertisements by trawling through each copy of the motoring and society magazines, but there is another way: the Richard Roberts Archive holds two Castrol ‘Guard Books’ – scrapbooks into which the Wakefield company pasted galley proofs of each example of its advertisements. There is one snag: the date and publication was given, but never the year. The major record breakers were so famous that it is possible to fill that gap in the available information, but the year of some lesser achievements cannot always be pinpointed.