Amherst Villiers, a cousin of Winston Churchill, is best known as the man who supercharged the legendary Blower Bentley, which his close friend Ian Fleming described as James Bond's only hobby. He also designed Malcolm Campbell's first land speed record-breaking Bluebird, played a part in BRM's only world championship-winning engine, spent 20 years on the US space programme, and painted portraits so fine that his work was on display in London's National Portrait Gallery. Had he been as good with people as he was with engines, this brilliant maverick could have achieved even more.