10 things you never knew about Lawnmowers..

Mowing. Love it or hate it, it’s got to be done in most gardens.  It is in some ways a very british pastime – there can be nothing so quintessentially british than the smell of freshly mown grass, or the noise of an old fashioned rotary mower being employed to keep everything looking shipshape.

John Boorman captured this feeling in the 1987 WW2 film Hope and Glory. The movie opens to a row of semi-detached back gardens on a sunny Sunday morning, September 3rd, 1939.  The sound of a dozen rotary mowers trundle away as the men “did the grass”.  Presently, the mowers all stop, a truly poignant moment signalling the radio announcement at 11.15 that war has been declared and nothing was ever quite going to be the same again.

So in our own homage to the great grass grate, we have put together our list of the top ten things you didn’t know you didn’t know and are still not sure you wanted to know, about lawn mowers.

1. The lawnmower was originally invented as a piece of machinery to be used in textile production.  In 1830, inventor Edward Beard Buddy was working on a design to trim the nap off the cloth of guardsmens uniforms, and hit upon the idea of using the machine to cut grass. Buddy had to test drive his new invention at night, as people thought he was mad to suggest such a thing.

2. Lawnmower racing is a recognised sport, started in 1973 by Irishman Jim Gavin and quoted as being “the cheapest form of motorsport in the UK”. There are strict entry guidelines and categories for four types of mower, details of which are available in an easily downloadable handbook.  The organisation has up to 250 members and meets regularly across the country to entertain all with their speed shavers.   Want to know more ? Go along to the“Noggin and Natter” evening held on the first Monday of each month at the Cricketers Arms Wisborough Green, West Sussex or log on to www.blmra.co.uk for more details.

3. There is a national museum dedicated to lawnmowers in Southport, Merseyside. The British Lawnmower Museum has over 200 exhibits, including the deliciously titled “Lawnmowers of the Rich and Famous”  section. Visit the museum and see for yourself : British Lawnmower Museum, Shakespeare St, Southport, Merseyside PR8 5AJ, United Kingdom

4. The first commercially available models of lawnmower were  manufactured by Ipswich based engineering company Ransomes. In 1867 they produced the ‘Automaton’, the first hand-powered lawn mower and in 1902 Ransomes Motor Mower went on sale, powered by an internal combustion petrol engine. Popularity increased, and by the 1920′s you could expect to pay around £36 for a top of the range machine with a 14 inch cut.

5. Two companies currently hold Royal Warrants for grass cutting. They are Bosch Lawn and Garden (granted by HRH The Queen and HRH The Prince of Wales)  and Hayter (granted by HRH The Queen).

6. The most expensive lawn mower in the world is thought to be the first solar powered robotic lawnmower, which cost over £1 million to develop (but has yet to make it into B&Q!)

7. At the time of writing, the most expensive lawnmower on Ebay was a used Toro 4000d batwing rotary mower by Kubota Engineering. With a 12ft wide cutting area the bidding began at £15,995 plus vat, which is a staggering £19,194 if no-one else were to bid.  Apparently it’s a snip, as a new one would set you back £65k and if you needed any more reason to bid,   postage is only £1!

8. The current land speed record for a lawnmower is 88.944 mph achieved by american Bobby Cleveland at the Bonneville Salt Flats in October 2010.  Bobby regained the title from previous holder Don Wales (who had stolen  the title from Bobby earlier in the year)  on a new John Deere mower. Not content with his triumph, Cleveland returned the following day and achieved a staggering 96.529mph, ensuring he will probably be world record holder for longer than a few months. It isn’t clear whether he was simultaneously mulching or not.

9. For real afficionado’s, the DVD Lawnmower World is available from the British Lawnmowing Museum. Offering a fascinating glimpse into the history of garden machinery, the DVD is yours for just £13.00 which includes free entry to the museum.  A must for any mower-mad loved ones, or other people with a fixation for faceting, felling and flitching the humble grass stalk.

10. You can be arrested for driving your lawnmower…. especially if  you are drunk at the time.  In 2008 49-year-old Frank Kozumplik was apprehended while merrily making his way home from the liquor store. He was doing so on board his John Deere tractor mower, which he was driving down the center of the street. Authorities say he had four bottles of wine in a paper bag with him, having already drunk two bottles (which is presumably what precipitated the booze emergency in the first place). Kozumplik told officers that he was on the lawnmower because his wife had taken the car to work, so it was the only way he could get the two miles from his home to the liquor store. Kozumplik, whose blood alcohol level was over two and half times the legal limit, was arrested, and charged with drunk driving. It is not known if he had been grassed up, but he was definitely half cut.

If all of this has inspired you to either invest from scratch or upgrade your current model,  check out the collection of mowers, including bestsellers and special offers, by  clicking here.