We hope you will enjoy this wonderful piece and we are so grateful to Brigitte Hill for sharing her Christmas memories.
A normal childhood
In many ways our childhood was a very normal one. School, friends, family holidays … until I was about 13 years old, and I suddenly thought, “hang on a minute, Dad’s doing something interesting here!”.
I started taking an interest and immersing myself in this extraordinary and, to many others, exciting world we were in. And my passion and connection with motorsport endures to this day.
“Motor racing runs in our veins,” my mother would say
Motorsport was always there, always a part of my life, from the very beginning. In fact, my father took great pleasure in telling me that I was only conceived because his car broke down at Le Mans 24 Heures one year!
So many wonderful, wonderful times with so much fun and laughter. And, now I know more, beautiful and blessed times to reflect on.
The belle of the ball
One such special memory happened shortly before Christmas 1975. My parents had been invited to the opening of the Loews Hotel in Monaco on today’s Fairmont Hairpin. My mother couldn’t go, so she suggested to my father that he take me.
He loved the idea, so my mother and I took off for a mad rush around the shops in North London for a dress that I could wear. I was thrilled.
Can you imagine my excitement… and looking back it really was like a fairytale Christmas movie. We were late as ever for the commercial flight to Monaco, but the crew were ready for us and told me “we only delay flights for two people, the Queen and your father”. They were obviously used to him! “He could charm the birds from the trees,” my mother would say.
Saturday night was the gala dinner and what can I say? Magical, wonderful and a lot of fun and laughter! We were there together, father and daughter, respecting the occasion, respecting the moment, respecting what we represented. Being the best of ourselves and having the best time. Never missing the moment – one of my Dad’s most firmly held mantras.
After dinner, my father said, “Come on, let’s dance”. A man who was blind was dancing too and the DJ suddenly put on the Twist, so my father said to him, “You know when you dry your back with a towel, that’s the Twist!”.
Christmas Traditions
I have such very clear and fond memories of what Christmas was like in our house. It was magical, a time when the world stopped. My father was at home and not racing. My mother loved Christmas and decorating our home and would spend weeks getting everything into place.
Christmas Eve arrived and my father would take Samantha, Damon and me off to have the day in London together, so that he could buy our mother’s Christmas present.
After he had chosen her gift, Dad would take us for lunch, often on the Embankment overlooking the Thames. He would always want us to try something exotic and different that he had experienced whilst away. One time, my father was showing us how to eat escargots. Many of them ended up flying across the room, causing hoots of laughter.
As night fell, we piled into the car, a Ford Zodiac. My father opened the sunroof and the three of us squeezed through the small opening so that we could get a proper look at the Christmas lights on Regent Street.
Christmas Day itself was fabulous
During the 60s and into the 70s, my father’s life was, in many ways, extraordinary. Yet at home, and especially during the festive season, we were a picture of normal family life.
The Christmas tree my mother had decorated so beautifully stood proudly in our sitting room. She always dressed the dining table perfectly for Christmas lunch, with crackers containing paper hats and the obligatory awful Christmas jokes.
Dad loved to get us going and out of the blue would say “On my way to the forum…” we’d hang on waiting… and that was it! I think the words just tickled him.
Christmas really was a beautiful time – all about family. No matter how late home he was, he would always look in on us while we were sleeping. I remember seeing him doing so a few days after the accident in November 1975, standing in the doorway to my room, looking out for us and over us, his presence, love and focus on all that is good in this world.
What would my father have wanted for Christmas?
If the Graham Hill Cosmetics range had been around in the 60s, I do think my mother would have bought him the Beau Rivage Eau de Toilette as a Christmas gift. After all it was developed by Grasse perfumeries and only the best will do.
She always liked to get him an aftershave at Christmas and this one evokes Mediterranean scents and style – and that wonderful era of racing. It would’ve been the perfect gift for the man dubbed ‘Mr Monaco’, after winning there five times in 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968 and 1969.
The perfect Christmas gift for a British gent
My father is often described as the quintessential British gentleman. He was certainly a well-groomed perfectionist, and everything had to be just right. Unless it wasn’t, then we’d have a good laugh about it! Live, love, laugh out loud.
As a family, we are so proud that his name endures and embodies such an elegant range of products, designed to be the best and reflecting characteristics that were very important to my father. He always trimmed his own moustache; I don’t remember him letting anyone else near it. To be the best, you have to be your best is something he believed in very strongly. I absolutely know that he would have loved to use them himself and would be tickled pink that they carry his name.
Wishing you all a really Happy Christmas! Brigitte