Sidney Keyes’ great allegorical tale of a race between a newfangled steamroller with a top speed of five miles per hour and a horse-drawn hearse, whose two old nags are accustomed to a stately pace appropriate to the transportation of the dead. The race takes on a wider significance as an allegory of progress and the advent of the age of the machine versus the old thoughtful way of life. When the two vehicles set off from their starting point nobody can really predict which vehicle will arrive first at the finish line, eight miles away. As it turns out, the outcome of the race is very different and more momentous than anyone could have predicted. A story that truly challenges the listener to think through the wider implications of what started out as a simple pub challenge.
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Sidney Arthur Kilworth Keyes (1922–1943) was an English poet of World War II. He boarded at Tonbridge School during his secondary education, after which he attended the Queen’s College, Oxford. While at college, Keyes wrote the only two books of his lifetime, The Cruel Solstice and The Iron Laurel. During his time in Oxford, Keyes fell in love with the young German artist Milein Cosman, but his love was not returned.
Cathy Dobson is the author of Planet Germany and a narrator of audiobooks.