I had a Vauxhall for one of my first cars. I lost first and third gear and had to drive it around in second and fourth. A bit of a bitch starting off on a hill in snowy weather

Great actor. I think his first roll was in 'To kill mocking bird' One of the greatest films of all time.

This Chitty Chitty Bang Bang plane was not only an ugly duckling it was actually called a duck, the Curtis Goupil Duck. It was originally a French design by one Alexander Goupil as late back as the 1880's and steam driven then reproduced by Glen Curtis in 1910 and yet again in the 1930's in collaboration with the French company Societe Generale. It was actually capable of a range of roles including reconnaissance, anti sub warfare and convoy escort. It operated from both land and sea and carried not only machine guns but bombs too. It was incredibly reliable and actually served throughout the war.

This short arsed runt is the McDonnell XF85 Goblin fighter, or parasite fighter as the airforce knew it. It was built to fit in and under bomber aircraft to supply fighter cover when needed, most notably the comically named B36 'Peacemaker'  the giant reverse, six engined, propellor driven leviathan or the Superfortress. The Goblin was only 14ft long and 21ft wide, with folding wings and a single turbo jet engine. Great idea on paper but it came with too many problems, such as stability, visibility for the pilot and handling. Only two were ever built because it was ultimately realised that it would not be able to compete with the new Soviet fighters when it met them.

You could be forgiven for thinking a steam powered plane could only exist in the film, Chity Chity Bang Bang, the sequel but no, here it is, the Besler steam plane and what an ingenious aircraft it was, doomed from the start of course but brilliantly nutty. Steam cars were quite common and some of them were surprisingly fast, reliable, comfortable and of course, extremely quiet in comparison to it's fire breathing petrol driven cousin. If you sat down to write a list of steam powered machines it would take you longer that expected. Take a nuclear submarine for instance, yep, a steam engine, as the nuclear reactor is only there to make steam. There is a catalogue of disastrous attempts at steam powered flight, which singed more than a few eyebrows over the years but the Besler brothers, George and William from Ohio, achieved the miracle that was successful steam powered flight. They began by converting a Travel Air 2000 biplane to accommodate a 2 cylinder steam engine which first flew in 1933 and was so quiet the pilot could talk to people on the ground as he passed. The engine was not of their own making, it was made by the Doble Steam Car Company (Abner Doble) who were at the pinnacle of luxury steam cars, including one which had a push button start no less. One of the other great things about a steam aircraft was it could land and stop in 40 yards by simply putting the engine in reverse and the prop stopped you. It could never have been more than a 'first' a novelty as it's flying time was 15 minutes maximum. It still exists and is in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington.

I've got an image in my mind of a man stood at the back shovelling coal into it with a flat cap and black face. Apparently there were a few combinations of fuel for this kind of steam engine but it would be almost certainly be a mixture of coal dust and petrol or kerosene

So you think you're the only ones capable of building short arsed runts? Well cop for that! I give you exhibit A on the left, which is the spymaster's best friend, the Westland Lysander and its Frankenstein offspring, the Westland Wendover, which is a Lysander, which has been cut in half and had somebody else's arse transplanted on. It was Westland's silly answer to having so many Lysanders shot out of the sky at the start of WW2 118 in just two months to be exact., so they thought to cut off the rear and fit a bomber type turret with a twin boom to keep it stable. As you can imagine the government placed no orders and it flew off into the sunset and was never seen again. The Lysander by comparison could land on a tennis court and performed stirling duty throughout the war as a clandestine delivery vehicle for the secret services. It delivered huge amounts of arms and ammunition to the French resistance and carried in and out of France, hundreds of men and women. It really was an unsung hero.