Keynes, John Maynard

John Maynard Keynes was not the type of person you would expect to ride in a motorcycle sidecar, but that's exactly what he did one morning in 1914, at least according to Zachary Carter.

Keynes somehow folded his 6'7" frame into a little ball, so that it would fit in the tiny capsule that rode alongside his friend's motorcycle. His brother-in-law had just agreed to take him to London from Cambridge, around 60 miles. 

The world of 1914 was on the brink of transformation. Europe was bustling with industrial progress and imperial grandeur, yet it was also teetering on the edge of the catastrophic Great War. This was a time when economic policies and international relations were about to be tested like never before.

Riding high on the success of Indian Currency and Finance, his first book, Keynes (Maynard, as his friends called him) had been given a Royal Commission on Indian currency, and the powers that be were duly impressed by his sharp mind and ability to apply economic theory in practi…