From the record

Notes on a true story

Sourced notes on Eleanor Velasco Thornton, the woman behind the flying lady, Charles Sykes, The Whisper, and the P&O liner Persia. Period photographs are labelled as period. No invented scenes.

• Eleanor Thornton and the Spirit of Ecstasy

  The woman behind the flying lady. A period photograph. Rolls-Royce registered the figure on the sixth of February, 1911.

• The Whisper, Charles Sykes

  Before Rolls-Royce had an emblem, Lord Montagu had one of his own. Hush. Say nothing.

• The SS Persia, 1915

  The New York Times, the second of January, 1916. A WW1 shipwreck. She has no grave but the sea.

• Fifteen years. Edwardian England forbidden love

  He sat three places down the table and was not permitted to look at her. His words.