The remarkable William Grover Williams

Who won the inaugural Monaco Grand Prix? It is a surprisingly difficult question to answer. First and unlike almost everyone else who would go on to win what would become perhaps the world’s most famous race, very few people, even people who’d count themselves as knowledgeable fans, have even heard of him. And those that have almost always fail to agree on his name. And that’s because he had so many.

Over the years I’ve read his name styled as W Williams, William Grover Williams, Grover Williams, ‘Williams’, Willy Grover and probably several more I’ve long forgotten. But I guess we can at least agree that these are all pretty British-sounding names, which is odd for a bloke who was born in France, spent most of his life in France and was considered to be French by the British press who consequently all but ignored his efforts behind the wheel. The man, however, always thought himself British.