The bricks lining the Festival of Speed startline are 100 years old and a gift from the Indianapolis Speedway "Brickyard" in 2011 to mark their centenary event!
Legend of Goodwood's golden racing era and Le Mans winner Roy Salvadori once famously said "give me Goodwood on a summer's day and you can forget the rest".
The first public race meeting took place in 1802 and, through the nineteenth century, ‘Glorious Goodwood,’ as the press named it, became a highlight of the summer season
The first ever horsebox was used from Goodwood to Doncaster for the 1836 St. Leger. Elis arrived fresh and easily won his owner a £12k bet.
Our gin uses wild-grown botanicals sourced from the estate, and is distilled with mineral water naturally chalk-filtered through the South Downs.
The oldest existing rules for the game were drawn up for a match between the 2nd Duke and a neighbour
After a fire in 1791 at Richmond House in Whitehall, London, James Wyatt added two great wings to showcase the saved collection at Goodwood. To give unity to the two new wings, Wyatt added copper-domed turrets framing each façade.
Every single item from plates to pictures has its own home within the Lodge, with our butler (James) has his own "bible" to reference exactly what is out of place.
Whoa Simon! A horse so determined and headstrong, he not only won the 1883 Goodwood Cup by 20 lengths, but couldn't be stopped and carried on running over the top of Trundle hill
Flying jetpacks doesn't have to just be a spectator sport at FOS, you can have a go at our very own Aerodrome!
Spectate from the chicane at the Revival to see plenty of classic cars going sideways as they exit this infamous point of our Motor Circuit.
Festival of Speed is our longest-standing Motorsport event, starting in 1993 when it opened to 25,00 people. We were expecting 2000!
Goodwood Motor Circuit was officially opened in September 1948 when Freddie March, the 9th Duke and renowned amateur racer, tore around the track in a Bristol 400
Future Lab is Goodwood's innovation pavilion, inspiring industry enthusiasts and future scientists with dynamic tech
For safety reasons F1 cars can no longer do official timed runs so instead perform stunning demonstrations!
King Edward VII (who came almost every year) famously dubbed Glorious Goodwood “a garden party with racing tacked on”.
The first ever horsebox was used from Goodwood to Doncaster for the 1836 St. Leger. Elis arrived fresh and easily won his owner a £12k bet.
The first ever horsebox was used from Goodwood to Doncaster for the 1836 St. Leger. Elis arrived fresh and easily won his owner a £12k bet.
The red & yellow of the Racecourse can be traced back hundreds of years, even captured in our stunning Stubbs paintings in the Goodwood Collection
Leading women of business, sport, fashion and media, take part in one of the most exciting horseracing events in the world.
Leading women of business, sport, fashion and media, take part in one of the most exciting horseracing events in the world.
For the last two years, 5,800 bales have been recylced into the biomass energy centre to be used for energy generation
Testament to the 19th-century fascination with ancient Egypt and decorative opulence. The room is richly detailed with gilded cartouches, sphinxes, birds and crocodiles.
Just beyond Goodwood House along the Hillclimb, the 2nd Dukes banqueting house was also known as "one of the finest rooms in England" (George Vertue 1747).
Ray Hanna famously flew straight down Goodwood’s pit straight below the height of the grandstands at the first Revival in 1998
One of the greatest golfers of all time, James Braid designed Goodwood’s iconic Downland course, opened in 1914.
One of the greatest golfers of all time, James Braid designed Goodwood’s iconic Downland course, opened in 1914.
The iconic spitfire covered almost 43,000 kilometres and visited over 20 countries on its epic journey and currently resides at our Aerodrome.
We have been host to many incredible film crews using Goodwood as a backdrop for shows like Downton Abbey, Hollywood Blockbusters like Venom: let there be Carnage and the Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Head Butler David Edney has worked at Buckingham Palace taking part in Dinner Parties for the then Duke of Richmond and the Queen.
Ensure you take a little time out together to pause and take in the celebration of all the hard work you put in will be a treasured memory.
One of the greatest golfers of all time, James Braid designed Goodwood’s iconic Downland course, opened in 1914.
Flying jetpacks doesn't have to just be a spectator sport at FOS, you can have a go at our very own Aerodrome!
Built in 1787 by celebrated architect James Wyatt to house the third Duke of Richmond’s prized fox hounds, The Kennels was known as one of the most luxurious dog houses in the world!
The famous fighter ace, who flew his last sortie from Goodwood Aerodrome, formerly RAF Westhampnett has a statue in his honor within the airfield.
Built in 1787 by celebrated architect James Wyatt to house the third Duke of Richmond’s prized fox hounds, The Kennels was known as one of the most luxurious dog houses in the world!
"En la rose je fleurie" or "Like the rose, I flourish" is part of the Richmond coat of Arms and motto
For the last two years, 5,800 bales have been recylced into the biomass energy centre to be used for energy generation
Whoa Simon! A horse so determined and headstrong, he not only won the 1883 Goodwood Cup by 20 lengths, but couldn't be stopped and carried on running over the top of Trundle hill
Testament to the 19th-century fascination with ancient Egypt and decorative opulence. The room is richly detailed with gilded cartouches, sphinxes, birds and crocodiles.
The famous fighter ace, who flew his last sortie from Goodwood Aerodrome, formerly RAF Westhampnett has a statue in his honor within the airfield.
A 20m woodland rue, from Halnaker to Lavant, was planted by our forestry teams & volunteers, featuring native species like oak, beech, & hornbeam
As two major exhibitions celebrate Mary Quant, Paula Reed describes the fashion and cultural influence of the ultimate Swinging London designer, while friends, fans and commentators explain what she meant to them.
Words by Paula Reed
Goodwood news
goodwood newsletter
Goodwood Magazine
Sixties London was a city of, and for, the young. Creative energy, a new sense of autonomy and a taste for rebellion didn’t just drive a wedge between generations, it jimmied the gap unbridgeably wide. As the Daily Telegraph commented at the time, “Youth had captured this ancient island and taken command in a country where youth had always been kept properly in its place.”
This new London “society” was a heady mix of singers, actors, models, hairdressers and designers. And among the designers, Mary Quant was a trailblazer of the new creative class – a quietly spoken commercial powerhouse with cover-girl charisma. In 1962, Vogue called Quant and her husband Alexander Plunket Greene the “ultra front room people”.
In the ’60s, fashion was more than a passing fad. It was a call to action. Mary Quant’s career epitomised London in full swing. The city was the crucible of what Vogue editor Diana Vreeland dubbed the “youthquake”, the impact of which would radically alter the landscape of Europe and America. In the ’50s, wardrobes were dictated by Paris couturiers and designed for 30-year-olds. The shops were full of matronly clothes: black dresses, twinsets and pearls. Mary Quant said in her biography, “To me, adult appearance was very unattractive. I wanted to make clothes that were fun to wear.” She was one of the first designers to realise that her customers didn’t want to dress like their mothers. And she made clothes for them that their mothers would have looked ridiculous in.
Quant opened her first shop, Bazaar, in 1955 in the Kings Road, the promenade for London’s competing style tribes. Unable to find the clothes she wanted on the wholesale market, she soon took to making them herself. Working from her bedsit, she fast-tracked her skills with a few frantic evening classes in cutting and, unaware that fabric could be bought wholesale, invested in materials at Harrods haberdashery.
Youth had captured this ancient island and taken command in a country where youth had always been kept properly in its place
Quant’s designs were an instant success. Within days of re-stocking, she had next-to-no merchandise left to sell. Her customers routinely stripped the store, often while she was dressing the windows. As she recalled in her biography, “People were sort of three-deep outside the window. The Royal Court Theatre people were mad about what we were doing. And it was very much the men who were bringing their girlfriends around and saying, ‘This is terrific. You must have some of this!’”
The young entrepreneur had a shrewd instinct for social change. And word soon spread beyond the “Chelsea set”. Her clothes became regular staples of magazine spreads, devoured by fashion followers in search of new trends. In this new world, the ’50s fashion categories of “formal” and “casual” ceased to have any meaning. As if to illustrate the point, a 1960 issue of Vogue photographed Mary Quant’s dark-striped pinafore with a black sweater for day, and on its own for going out to dinner.
Quant took her inspiration from the utilitarian outfits she’d worn as a child at school and at dance classes. She styled short tunic dresses with tights in bright, stand-out colours – bright scarlet, zingy orange, lush purple. And taking a leaf from the playbook of another irreverent trailblazer, Coco Chanel, she raided men’s wardrobes, reinventing comfy cardigans that were just long enough to wear as dresses, and using white plastic collars to finish sweaters and dresses.
Her customers had considerable spending power because clothes were at the centre of their existence
Her meteoric success was built on a perfect storm of demographics and cultural change. An increasing number of women were joining the workforce and had independent means. And they alone decided where their money was going. As fashion historian Colin McDowell noted, “Her customers had considerable spending power because clothes were at the centre of their existence.” The new boutique customer dressed simply to have a good time.
There is still controversy as to whether it was Mary Quant or French designer André Courrèges who invented the iconic 1960s miniskirt. Courrèges insists, “I was the man who invented the mini. Quant only commercialised the idea.” Quant’s response was typically chilled:
“I don’t mind but it’s just not as I remembered it… Maybe Courrèges did do miniskirts first, but if he did, no one wore them.” Famously, she named the skirt after her favourite car, the Mini Cooper. And regardless of official authorship, extremely short skirts and shift dresses rapidly became Quant’s trademark, and were popularised by the era’s poster girl, Twiggy, whose willowy figure helped turn super-short hemlines into an international trend.
Quant’s success was a harbinger of Britain’s potential as a global fashion superpower. By 1966 (when she was still only 32) she had been summoned to Buckingham Palace to accept an OBE. She had launched her own make-up line. She had added a collection of hosiery and underwear to complete the miniskirted Quant wardrobe. And she had spearheaded the export of the London Look in the US, reaching thousands of American girls through a partnership with JC Penney before the Beatles had even made it Stateside. Her models, wearing thigh-length dresses, stopped the traffic on Broadway. All over the world, Mary Quant became the byword for contemporary British style.
I bought a Mary Quant pinky-red shot-silk dress [for her wedding to George Harrison], which came to just above the knee, and I wore it with creamy stockings and pointy red shoes. On top, because it was January and cold, I wore a red fox-fur coat, also by Mary Quant, that George gave me. She made George a beautiful black Mongolian lamb coat
Pattie Boyd, Model. From her memoir, Wonderful Tonight
Mary Quant’s work defined an era – she pioneered some of the Sixties’ greatest trends and democratised fashion
Tommy Hilfiger, Designer
I remember Mary’s shop, Bazaar. Conran did the interior… and her husband’s restaurant was below. It was like a club. I went all the time
Nicky Haslam, Designer
I remember making a Mary Quant design from a pattern – a mini-dress with an A-line skirt in white with a black zip down the front. And I wore it when, as a young reporter in New Zealand, I was trying to get an interview with the Rolling Stones, who were touring at the time. They were staying in a hotel in Wellington and I somehow managed to get in with a friend of mine. I remember Keith Richards came up to me, pulled down the zip and said, ‘Very nice!’ and then zipped it up again and walked away. Mary Quant will of course be remembered for popularising the mini skirt and for inventing hot pants – I think those were her two main things. But she was brilliant at merchandising – at projecting this image, with the haircut by Vidal Sassoon and so on, and using that to market everything from tights to make-up, all with the daisy logo, which was very big. I think, like Pierre Cardin, she was very good at conveying a sense of the future. She was very much part of that swinging London moment, with David Bailey and Twiggy and the Beatles.
Hilary Alexander, Fashion editor
This article was taken from the Spring 2019 edition of the Goodwood Magazine.
Goodwood news
goodwood newsletter
Goodwood Magazine
Sign in below to access your account and benefits
Don't have an account?Create your account by entering your details below...
Already have an accountBook tickets
For our big events, to the small ones too
Book event hospitality
Enjoy with loved ones, colleagues or clients
Buy an experience
For yourself, a loved one, or both!
Book a table
Choose from three of our restaurants
Book your stay
Stay at our hotel, cottages or Hound Lodge
Become a member
Join the family and get exclusive rewards
Book tickets Change
Choose event
Festival of Speed is our longest-standing Motorsport event, starting in 1993 when it opened to 25,00 people. We were expecting 2000!
From elite motorsport to historic horse racing, you’ll have an unforgettable experience.
Book event hospitality Change
Choose event
Leading women of business, sport, fashion and media, take part in one of the most exciting horseracing events in the world.
Experience ultimate access to our exceptional events with our all inclusive hospitality packages.
Buy an experience Change
Choose experience
Henry Cavill, Hugh Grant, Armie Hammer and Guy Ritchie filmed scenes at our very own Motor Circuit
From driving and flying to golf and dining, experiences at Goodwood are simply unforgettable.
Book a table Change
Choose restaurant
Choose from three of our restaurants, all serving our award-winning organic produce.
Book your stay Change
Find availability
We have been host to many incredible film crews using Goodwood as a backdrop for shows like Downton Abbey, Hollywood Blockbusters like Venom: let there be Carnage and the Man from U.N.C.L.E.
We’re already looking forward to seeing you.
Become a member Change
Choose a membership
Whatever your passion, there is a Goodwood membership to make you feel at home.