My father-in-law Ray reports that Simpson wasn't all that impresive prior to going to France to race. Ray beat Simpson on rare occasion.
Prior to Simpson's foray into France (to, ahem, further his career) the rider who won just about everything up north was Brian Robinson.
Ray would often key his whole race around staying on Robinson as long as he could. He was never able to stay to the finish.
By the way, if anybody has race results for Lancashire in the early to mid-fifties I'd be interested to see it Ray (Foulkes) shows up in any...
Cheers,
Bruce Masterson
East Providence, RI