By Carol Thatcher
Cunard’s QE2 has captured headlines for 40 years. Conceived and designed in the 1960s during a period of financial uncertainty for Cunard. Built in difficult conditions on the Clyde and hailed by the city as a white elephant, she has outlived all her critics and detractors. Starting with her revolutionary design and arguments surrounding her construction to her introduction into service at a time when airlines were firmly in the ascendant, her story continues with her sometimes troubled voyages, engine failure, storms, collisions, ransom threats, drug smugglers, terrorists and wartime service. The story includes hosts of celebrities from the sixties to the present all of whom have fallen for the charm of this old-fashioned lady. She steams serenely on through storms of publicity doing her job for her mother company. The book is especially memorable in this last year of QE2’s service on the ocean.
Hardcover. 256 pages. Lavishly illustrated in archival and color photos.
