Fast Women

Some years ago I was invited to talk “motor sport” at a winter club evening in Bristol and the evening seemed to be going really well until I “dropped a brick.” It happened during the question period, and I was standing before my audience when someone asked, “What do you think of women drivers?” My reply was immediate and, I thought, amusing, for with a sweeping gesture of the hands (right to left) I replied, “Women drivers are either good or bad.”

If I had not glanced from right to left, it would have been fine. As it was, a) I did and b) I smiled! It was not fine! A person of the opposite sex was deeply offended as, at the end of my gesture my eyes apparently alighted on her. An argument within the audience broke out—I attempted to apologize, but finaly just smiled, or at least tried to, and said “thank you and good night.”