In the 1930s, as the world hurtled towards terrible global conflict, speed was all the rage. It was described by Aldous Huxley as `the one genuinely modern pleasure`, & one of the fastest & most thrilling ways to attain it was through the new sport of bobsledding. Exotic, exciting & above all dangerous, it was by far the most popular event at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics. It required an abundance of skill & bravery. & the four men who triumphed at those Games lived the most extraordinary lives. Billy Fiske was an infamous daredevil, blessed with a natural talent for driving. He would later become the first American airman to die in the war
- flying for the RAF. Clifford Gray was a notorious playboy & a player on both Broadway & Hollywood. Or was he? His identity was a mystery for decades. Jay O` Brien was a gambler & a rogue who, according to one ex-wife, forced women to marry him at gunpoint. & Eddie Eagan, a heavyweight boxer & brilliant lawyer, remains the only man to win gold at both the Summer & Winter Olympics. This is their story, of loose living, risk-taking & hell-raising in an age of decadence, & of their race against the odds to become the fastest men on ice. We will never see their like again. Especially after the world did descend into that second, terrible global conflict.