This is a remarkable adventure story. The City and County of Nottingham, England (hunting ground of Robin Hood!), wished to honour the memory of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1949, a Memorial Travelling Scholarship was announced, funded by public subscription, to enable two or three young men or women, aged between 20 and 30, and resident in the City or County, to go to America for four months, all expenses paid. The fortunate Scholar was required to fulfill an Ôambassadorial roleÕ for the British way of life and was free to travel anywhere in the US but also to spend some of the time looking at their own career direction
In 1959, Keith Taylor at twenty seven was a young manager with Raleigh Industries. He chose to travel by car, the first (and last!) Scholar to do so, and drove an astonishing, accident free 17300 miles in a small British Hillman Minx convertible and 1000 miles by train.