Unfazed by the financial folly of his first foray into aircraft manufacturing, Sir Freddie Laker’s bath-time brainwave to buy up Berlin Blockade brutes for cross-Channel car-carrying conversions came good, as Stephen Skinner explains

Sir Freddie Laker was the best-known British airline chief from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was a personality, eager to develop his business and well able to argue his corner in a time when the airline business was heavily regulated by the government. Even before becoming a famous figure he made his mark and a lot of money from the way he ran his business.