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William Lyons

William Lyons, English businessman, co-founded Jaguar Cars (died 1985)

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Born
September 4, 1901
Died
February 8, 1985
Zodiac sign
Virgo
Birth year
1901

About William Lyons

Sir William Lyons, known as "Mr. Jaguar", was with fellow motorcycle enthusiast William Walmsley, the co-founder in 1922 of the Swallow Sidecar Company, which became Jaguar Cars Limited after the Second World War. The first "Jaguar" model was offered in 1935, and after World War II, Lyons changed the company name to Jaguar to avoid the unfortunate connotations with the Nazi SS "Schutzstaffel". Although he had no direct involvement with its design, allegedly Lyons was shown the finished final prototype of the XJ40 shortly before his death in 1985 and was said to be "approving" of what was the replacement for the first generation XJ6.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

William Lyons timeline

  1. The first "Jaguar" model was offered in 1935, and after World War II, Lyons changed the company name to Jaguar to avoid the unfortunate connotations with the Nazi SS "Schutzstaffel".
  2. Although he had no direct involvement with its design, allegedly Lyons was shown the finished final prototype of the XJ40 shortly before his death in 1985 and was said to be "approving" of what was the replacement for the first generation XJ6.

The world when William Lyons was born

William Lyons was born in 1901. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1901

  • Best-selling book"The Crisis" – Winston Churchill

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst American League season
  • Top headlinePresident McKinley assassinated — Roosevelt becomes president
  • Technology milestoneFirst transatlantic radio signal by Marconi
  • World population~1.61B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderWilliam McKinley / Theodore Roosevelt
  • U.S. population77.6M

1901 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in William Lyons's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19012026
Population77.6M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.