Books by Richard Noble

Inspired by the sight of RAF Lightning fighter interceptors climbing vertically into the sky at 50,000 feet per minute and by other British engineering and design achievements, Richard Noble, determined to put Britain back in the lead during the resurgence of national confidence of the 1980s, wanted Britain to regain the world land speed record. Thrust 2, driven by Richard Noble, broke the world land speed record on 4 October 1983 in the Black Rock desert in Nevada. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Avon turbo-jet engine, it reached a speed of 650.88 mph (1,047,49 km/h}. It would hold the land speed record until 25 September 1987. In this fascinating book, Richard Noble tells the inside story of the development of the car that would beat the world. The story takes the reader from the drawing board, through the considerable technical difficulties, including aerodynamics, mounting an engine designed for jet fighter aircraft, and maintaining stability with suspension and wheels at speeds of over 650 miles per hour. Despite the huge challenges, including recovery from a crash, they were overcome by the confidence and determination of Richard Noble and his team. Including unseen illustrations, this is the true inside story of the world-beating Thrust 2 project.

This book is an essential guidebook to the King James Bible and explores the idioms within it that have entered modern-day usage.

They said it couldn't be done. Sceptics warned that as a car approached 750 mph the shock waves generated when it hit the sound barrier would either force it off the ground like an aeroplane or tear it apart. Richard Noble, the modern embodiment of the swashbuckling British speed seeker of yesteryear, was used to that kind of blinkered thinking.

Utopian strategies in contemporary art seen in the context of the histories of utopian thinking and avant-garde art.