“Paul should be congratulated on a book which gives an authoritative, overdue account of an extraordinary man.” ~ Lord Montigue of Beaulieu (in the forward of ‘The Man Who Supercharged Bond’, a biography of Amherst Villiers authored by Paul Kenny)
The extraordinary story of artist Charles Churchill Villiers’ father Charles Amherst Villiers has recently been published. I know Charles to be immeasurably proud of his father’s accomplishments, and of him as an artist and painter.
Amherst made a profound break from rocketry and engineering, to pursue painting; his very first portrait was of young Charles, the portrait sitting resulted in the two spending a great deal of time together and seems to have influenced Charles deeply in his identity as an artist.
Ian Flemming was a close friend and neighbor to the Villiers family. In 1962 Flemming commissioned a portrait which appeared in a limited edition of ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’. A young Charles’ childhood stories are credited to the formation of ‘Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang’ the children’s book, and later hollywood movie, which is undeniably based on the Villiers Family; Charles, sister Jane, their father the inventor and of course the fabled race car rebuilt as a flying car.
Amherst Villiers and his son, Charles in the restored Bently
At age 11, under his father’s guidance, Charles began painstakingly restoration of a Villiers blown Bentley, that had been given to him by Flemming. The car upon it’s completion, won the Concourse D’ Elegance at Pebble Beach, California.
Amherst Villiers began began his career in design engineering by souping up Brescia Bugattis, he went on to develop Superchargers for Bentley and Rolls Royce. He designed the Napier-Campbell Bluebird in 1927. He left the group to work on a gyroscope design and to calculate a rocket trajectory to reach Mars, by that time Bluebird had broken the land speed record.
As a professional, portrait painter, he was known to take his artwork very seriously, pursuing it with a single minded determination. He studied under portrait painter Pietro Annigoni in Florence, and later worked on restoration of renaissance masterworks in a monastery in Majorca. As an artist himself, his son Charles studied painting under him in Spain.
Amherst Villiers paintings are very highly regarded; a portrait of Ian Flemming, along with a stunning portrait of legendary race-car driver, Graham Hill, are on loan to the National Portrait Gallery of London.
I’m excited and looking forward to reading this book. It’s available online at the official website www.themanwhosuperchargedbond.com
I’ve watched people reach out to touch the horses and applaud as the men and women of the Ride paraded before them. I have seen and felt the special sense of what it is to be Canadian when I watch the Musical Ride. These horses and riders are uniquely Canadian and it was my goal and passion to produce a series of paintings that celebrate their pageantry and Canadian Heritage
Play Rock-Paper-Scissors for !0% off. Anything in the gallery. 
Artist Ken Kirkby’s recently released biography, 
