Birtles and the Bean: Epic trip from London to Melbourne

Almost a century after the original journey, The Daily Telegraph’s Matthew Benns and Warren Brown are recreating an iconic journey around the world. Follow their adventure.

Almost 100 years apart, The Daily Telegraph has been instrumental in an epic drive from London to Melbourne in the same model 14 horsepower Bean open top sports car.

Then, as now, the drivers involved were completely nuts.

This time readers of The Daily Telegraph can follow in real time as cartoonist Warren Brown and Editor-at-large Matthew Benns recreate the drive Francis Birtles made in 1927, proudly supported by Harvey Norman.

Just as Birtles did, they will start from Australia House in The Strand in London with the well wishes of The King ringing in their ears. Miss England 2024, Milla Magee will step in for Miss Australia 1927 Phyllis Von Alwyn who waved Birtles off.

DONATE: Birtles and the Bean fundraiser for Royal Flying Doctor Service

Back then Birtles’ name was a byword for adventure to Aussies just as Don Bradman was for cricket or Phar Lap for horse racing. He hatched the plan to drive from London to Melbourne with The Daily Telegraph’s senior correspondent Malcolm Ellis.

They had one crack at it, pulled the pin in India and then Birtles returned for another solo go with the idea that it would bring Australia and England closer together.

See where in the world the adventurers are in the map below:

The world he faced was not dissimilar to our own - recovering from a global pandemic, Spanish flu not Covid, war in the east, the rise of a radical right and a looming depression that claimed the Bean car factory that made his car.

Brown and Benns have embraced his spirit and at the same time aim to raise money for a great pioneering Australian institution - The Royal Flying Doctor Service which was founded in Cloncurry in Queensland the year Birtles finally drove his battered Bean back to Australia.

They will follow the spirit of his route, crossing Europe, taking a ferry from Greece to Alexandria in Egypt and driving past the pyramids before tackling the sands of the Saudi desert.

The journey the original adventurers did in 1927. Illustration: Warren Brown

The Daily Telegraph’s readers will be following in real time as they put the 100 year old car through its paces on the teeming roads of India and Asia before reaching Singapore for a slow boat to Darwin.

The trip across the island continent of Australia will be an epic drive in itself, traversing from Darwin to Melbourne via Tennant Creek, Brisbane and Sydney. They will be stopping to refill the sunscreen for a car that has no roof, windows or doors.

Premier Chris Minns unveiled the challenge in November at a launch at The Royal Automobile Club in Sydney and clearly understood the madcap adventure behind the challenge.

“This recreates the epic journey of a great Australian adventurer. It raises money for a fantastic cause, the Royal Flying Doctor Service. It is an honour to be there at the very start. Warren Brown is a danger man, I cannot wait to catch up with them again for, in my case, a non-alcoholic beer when they get back,” Mr Minns said.

Originally published as Birtles and the Bean: Epic trip from London to Melbourne