A Norton International Model 30, originally given to comedian George Formby, sold for £29,900 at auction in 2007.
The bike was presented to Formby when he visited the Bracebridge Street site in July 1947. George had been performing in the radio show Workers Playtime at the Norton factory. As he was leaving the canteen after the broadcast he was confronted by the Norton factory employees who, at a given signal, all parted to reveal the motorcycle.
In reality the presentation a publicity stunt - George had received the bike the previous week when it was delivered to his home in Cheshire so that it could be registered in Manchester with the number plate HVU 111. He only kept the bike for a short time, selling it to a pal down the pub for £250 in 1948.
George’s Norton at the National Motorcycle Museum on 2024
What’s the connection with George and motorcycles? In the public eye it was the 1935 spoof film No Limit, in which our hero entered a fictitious Isle of Man TT. The bike in the film was an AJS but no real names were used. George did own a few bikes. Apart from the Norton, he had an AJS and a Brough Superior, among others.
