The name 'Siegfried Bettmann' is invariably linked with that of Triumph; cycles, motor cycles and cars; a name of world renown. Much of the history of these great companies has already been written. But what of their founder? Who was this businessman, poet, traveller, Councillor, the widely acclaimed and respected Mayor of an important industrial city; later to be ostracised and abandoned by his colleagues, friends and fellow citizens during the most devastating war which the world had then yet known?

Often pioneers are quickly forgotten and only their deeds and achievements remain. Fortunately, Siegfried Bettmann was a gifted writer and orator and though he claimed never to have kept a diary, his written works, together with his legacies, help us to put together a sketch of the man. And he is a man who must rank among the greatest benefactors and most illustrious citizens of Coventry.