Modern Lifestyles WINTER 2016 | Page 89

“It is always darkest just before the dawn.” And so, the new Rolls-Royce Dawn, the world’s only true modern four-seater super-luxury drophead, is born. “It is always darkest just before the dawn” In the most challenging times, the phrase “It is always darkest just before the dawn” – originally coined by English Restoration preacher Thomas Fuller – resonates as a beacon of hope. This early morning darkness, where apparitions such as phantoms, ghosts or wraiths have been imagined, and where one’s apprehensions lurk, is brushed aside by an energising burst of early morning sunlight as one awakens to a new dawn and the endless possibilities of a new day. Such was the feeling in 1952 as the world was finally emerging from a period of economic austerity following protracted war. That year, the world looked forward in hope as the world’s first passenger jet, the British deHavilland Comet, made its first commercial flight; the Big Bang Theory of the creation of the Universe was first propounded, and Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne of the United Kingdom. That very same year, the Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn drophead, which became the muse for the designers of the new Rolls-Royce ModernLifestyles.tv 87