AUTHOR and cycling expert William Manners will be at The Grove Bookshop, Ilkley on Thursday, June 14 at 7pm, to discuss his new book Revolution: How The Bicycle Reinvented Modern Britain.

Published today (May 31) the book looks at the Victorian roots of cycling, and how the invention caused major change in Britain, and – ultimately – the world.

Manners delves into the past to illuminate just how much the bicycle transformed the day-to-day lives of men and women. With millions of people experiencing a personalised means of transport for the first time, this truly was revolutionary, and – crucially – available to the common man and woman cheaply.

By bringing the distances between villages and towns within the reach of the population, the cycle opened up Britain’s roads to a new breed of traveller – with all the benefits that that brought. Put simply: the gene pool of the population was widened, and ‘respectable’ behaviours and stiff-upper lips were left at home as people revelled in the freedoms opened up by journeying into the countryside – whether through frequent visits to pubs, scratch bicycle races, or flirting with the daughters of the landladies whose inns they were staying at. It was also a great emancipator of women, from crib, kitchen and convention. And with it came a wave of changes in style, fashion and socialising.

Taking contemporaneous accounts of the machine – from previously unexplored cycling club journals (filled with entertaining and revealing insights into the activities of members) to writings of H.G. Wells – to show its radical effects, Revolution illustrates the major impact that the bicycle had on culture, and how the machine remains a marvel of modern engineering that transformed Britain and, ultimately, the world.

Tickets for the Grove Bookshop launch are £5: 01943609335, info@grovebookshop.com