"LUCKY JIM."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 212, 8 September 1938, Page 31

"LUCKY JIM."

TOYED WITH DEATH.

FLUNKET CRASH SURVIVOR.

whole outlook affected,,

(Special—By £ Ir Mali.)

LOXDOX, August 17 Tn Hollywood, Mayfair, and St Mont,, they call Mr. Walter Woollard Lawrence, 30-year-old son of Sir Walter Lawrence, of Hyde Hall, Sawbridgeworth. Hertfordshire, "Lucky J im » g i" 1; .aeroplane close 1 r,ends Lord and Lady Plu„ket and their p, ot l o9t their lives i„ £.' loiiiin in February.

His broken leg still in bandages he ""T' rt j;, th ?. th ! ho p« t «ip,s: r . ' 1,19 Cresta trophies next winter (if not this), and that he has not abandoned the idea of plavin« squash for the Bachelor Club again As for the Cresta . . . well, I h o i d two niuß.uficent cups and I'm loath to tI I ,ei " «o, l»e said. "The crash has not destroyed my nerve.

t"! r. ,l v 1 n K ; k - v v? 4 to u '** u, y ie »- «>>< i I shall still be able to i.'av games after a tashion. Jo the magnificent Oft 3in man who Is not only first-class on the ■'bob" run, but a mainstay with bat and ball on his father's private cricket ground and one of the fraternal triumvirate who successfully challenged any other three brothers 'in England to a squash match, this is of tremendous importance.

Probably one of the dozen best men in society on the ballroom floor,' he also appreciates the fact that he will be able to dance again.

But the accident had made a deep psychological impression on him. "There is only one thing for me to do at present—work," he said. "The crash lias affected my whole outlook and you won't see me around the West End so much."

By work he means carrying out his duties as governing direcor of his father's building firm in London. Perhaps "Jim" Lawrence's most famous motoring exploit was racing the Blue Train from Calais to Cannes (720 miles) and beating it by an hour. His strength and endurance are terrific, and it is to this that he owes his life. 'His struggle to live astonished his doctors, it is said.

"The consolation of the crash," he concluded, "is that I made lots of new friends while I was recuperating in Hollywood. Douglas Fairbanks, jun., and Norma Shearer were marvellously to me."