Michael Oliver MBE King of Steam

Softback

For over four decades Mike Oliver
bestrode the Dorset landscape like a
giant. He took an idea and with
determination and true grit borne out
of a lifetime of labour on the land and
in the cab of a lorry and with the help
of friends, John Garrett, Arthur Field,
Ted and Gordon Hine, Doc Romanes, Betty
Marsh, the Coles’ and Antell families
and others, he built the Great Dorset
Steam Fair. From its early beginnings
with the family binder, a wooden
threshing drum and a field of wheat the
show hasn’t changed in over forty
years, only has it got bigger, much
bigger.
From a few thousand visitors on 200
acres in 1969 to over 200,000 on 600
acres in 2012, the show retains its
simple appeal. The original threshing
drum works on site and the corn is cut
with the same binder that harvested the
first crop. There are hundreds of extra
attractions but it remains the show
where you can step back into the 19th
and early 20th century and be at peace
with the world. This book is a tribute
to the man who made it happen and whose
spirit lives on.
The late Michael Fredrick Oliver MBE
1934-2009: King of Steam Brian Moore

• 148 Pages
• Softback
• 145 mm x 205 mm