We want to get to know you more to help improve our service. Please take 2 minutes to fill out our survey here. Thank you! test2

Discover content and watch films on our latest and improved iOS app. Download it here!

This film is part of Free

Middlesex. Mere Males Not Wanted

Dozens of women riders let rip in a 1920s motorbike race through fields and tracks around Wood Green.

Non-Fiction 1927 1 mins Silent

From the collection of:

Logo for London's Screen Archives

Overview

It’s perhaps a little surprising to see so many women enthusiastically taking part in a motorbike race in the 1920s. The Topical Budget caption writer clearly thought so, asking “Where’s Adam?” over one scene, featuring a woman on her bike munching an apple and failing to suppress a snigger. The racers – there were 59, taking part in the “all ladies reliability trial” – are then shown driving through muddy fields and along tacks, solo and with sidecars.