Noel Pemberton Billing
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Noel Pemberton Billing (1881 – 11 November 1948) was a British aviator and Member of Parliament known for his extreme right-wing views.
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[edit] Early life and aviation
Born in Hampstead, Billing ran away from home at the age of 14 and travelled to South Africa. After trying a number of occupations, he joined the mounted police and became a boxer. He then fought in the Boer War, but was invalided out.
Billing then returned to England and used his savings to open a garage in Kingston upon Thames. This was successful, but he became more interested in aviation. An attempt to open an aerodrome in Essex failed, but started a short-lived career in property, while he studied to become a lawyer. He passed his exams, but instead moved into selling steam yachts. He won a £500 bet that he could gain his pilot's licence within 24 hours of first sitting in a plane, and used the winnings to found a Southampton-based aircraft business, "Pemberton-Billing Ltd", with Hubert Scott-Paine in 1913. Financial difficulties soon set in, but the onset of World War I revived its fortunes.
In 1914, Billing was called up to the Royal Navy, where he organised an aircraft raid on Zeppelin sheds near Lake Constance. He was able to sell his share in the aviation firm to Scott-Paine in early 1916, who renamed the firm Supermarine.
[edit] Politics and journalism
As a man of means, Billing in 1916 contested the Mile End by-election, 1916 as an independent candidate, and then won in Hertford. He held the seat at the 1918 general election.
During the war he was notable for his support of air power, constantly accusing the government of neglecting the issue and advocating the creation of a separate air force, unattached to either the army or navy. He also called for air raids against German cities.
He founded a journal, Imperialist, in which he published an article by Harold Sherwood Spencer which claimed that the Germans were blackmailing 47,000 Britons to "propagate evils which all decent men thought had perished in Sodom and Lesbia". The names were said to be inscribed in the "Berlin Black Book" of the "M'Prit of Albania".
Billing's journal was then renamed Vigilante, and published a second article by Spencer, The Cult of the Clitoris. This implied that the actress Maud Allan, then appearing in a private production of Salome, was a lesbian associate of the conspirators. This led to a sensational court case, at which Billing represented himself and won. Lord Alfred Douglas also testified in Billing's favour.
After 1921, ill health forced Billing to resign from the House of Commons and retire from politics, but he continued to remain active in many other fields.
[edit] Inventions
In 1922, Billing patented a recording system intended to produce records with ten times the capacity of existing systems, but its complexity prevented popular uptake. A further musical invention, the "unbreakable record", was marketed by Duophone in 1925, but failed to take off, as it rapidly wore out needles.
In 1927, Billing wrote a play, High Treason, inspired by Metropolis. He filmed this the following year in two versions, one silent and the other an early "talkie", but none of these productions proved successful.
Shortly before World War II, Billing claimed to have invented an uncrewed flying bomb, but the design was not pursued. He stood in the Hornsey by-election, 1941, attempting to replicate his success during World War I, but was unable to take the seat.
In 1936, Billing designed the miniature "Le Coultre Compass" camera. In 1948, he devised the "Phantom" camera to be used by spies. It never entered production, but its rarity led one to sell for £120,000, a record price for any camera, in 2001.
[edit] Biography
A biography of Noel Pemberton Billing by Barbara Stoney, entitled 'Twentieth Century Maverick' is available from Bank House Books. http://www.bankhousebooks.com
