Car trouble - Wensley Clarkson

Wensley Clarkson's mum and dad lived on a different planet from most parents as he grew up in post-war London in the late 1950s and '60s. His mother spent much of her time nursing a tumbler of whisky and a bottle of pills, while his father edited one of Britain's bestselling weekly newspapers.

Most children were taken to playgrounds and parks to play, but Wensley was left sitting in the front seat of the family saloon car outside pubs for hours with a bottle of pop and a packet of crisps. As a result, he got a taste for driving at a dangerously early age and created his own strange motoring netherworld away from the boozy, irresponsible, childish adults he was supposed to look up to.

Car Trouble presents a portrait of a middle-class boy virtually left to run his own life in one of the world's biggest cities. Yet through that neglect emerged a quick-witted survivor whose life was uniquely shaped by his childhood obsession with cars.