Automotive

Norman was born in 1920, and when his father died in 1934 he had no alternative and left school aged 14 to provide for his family. 

During the Second World War he was a turret gunner in a Bristol Blenheim and was lucky to survive the war. In 1951 he joined Jaguar as a test driver to which he would dedicate the rest of his working life, 

Norman was an accomplished racing driver and drove a D-Type Jaguar in the fateful 1955 Le Mans. He was also responsible for the development of the Dunlop disk breaking system that we all take for granted today. 
As a test driver he survived three enormous accidents there, the slowest at more than 130mph. On all three occasions, in a C-Type, a D-Type, and most famously the XJ13 Le Mans car, he tucked himself under the scuttle and rode it out until the car stoped. Despite no belts or roll protection, he emerged without serious injury.

In 1961 Norman famously drove a new Jaguar E-Type from England overnight to Geneva. He did the 760 miles in 14 hours and then spent all the following day giving passenger rides to journalists.