It’s perhaps inevitable that when your age no longer appears as an option on a Series II speedometer, you begin to cast your mind back and review some of the adventures you have had. For Philip James Russell, 80 used to be a downhill and with a wind behind you point that was still a long way off, but as his milestone birthday approached he suddenly found himself genuinely pondering not just the past, but also the future: was now the right time to start planning an overlanding rematch—some 50 years after he last arrived back in the UK?
Born in September 1943, Philip Russell had an unusual ambition as a child—no dreams of becoming a firefighter, astronaut or stunt man here: from the age of 11 he was dead set on being a maths teacher and duly ended up at university in Liverpool, studying for a degree in mathematics and physics. It was there that Philip was introduced to Land Rover ownership with the keys to an 88in Series II fitted with a hard top which, for reasons he could never fathom, proved to be stuck firmly in place, scuppering thoughts of open top motoring for this particular student. Yet for a 21 year-old, this didn’t cull the enjoyment and he recalls just how much he enjoyed owning the Land Rover, even taking it for a spin along the water’s edge at Bracklesham Bay in West Sussex before eventually selling it on a year later.
With intentions of joining the Royal Navy as a helicopter pilot put to one side when he suddenly found himself a family man, Philip began to look at other ways he could put his qualifications to good use and spotted an advertisement in the Times Educational Supplement that promised a new adventure: “They were looking for people to undertake a teacher training course in Zambia before then being given a full-time post in the area. I signed straight up!”
By this time, Philip and his wife had two children and in February 1969, the four of them boarded the RMS Pendennis Castle in Southampton with Cape Town as their next destination, followed by a drive from the tip of South Africa through Rhodesia. The next couple of years proved to be pretty busy with the completion of a PGCE at the University of Zambia, followed by a teaching contract at the Munali School in Lusaka and a stint working with the Zambian Army cadet force for which he was given a commission in the service. However, it was getting to know Perry Dutfield at the Lusaka Theatre Club that would come to shape the next chapter of his life.
