On this day: the birth of Bernie Ecclestone

On 28 October 1930, Bernie Ecclestone, the man who would create modern Formula 1 was born, writes Eliot Wilson It is now reckoned that only four people remain alive who participated in a Formula 1 World Championship weekend before 1960. Formula 1 was in transition: rear-engined cars were beginning to dominate the category and so too were those dismissed by grandee Enzo Ferrari as garagistes, independent teams who often built their own cars but not engines. Peter Ashdown (92) and Belgian André Milhoux (97) were never famous, while David Piper (95) found more success in sports cars in the 1960s. The fourth found himself in the record books by accident: he bought two ex-factory Connaught Type Bs and entered them for other drivers at Monaco in 1958. When both drivers complained of poor handling in qualifying, he drove a lap himself to confirm their problem. His name was Bernard Charles Ecclestone, and he celebrates his 96th birthday today. Bernie Ecclestone created modern Formu