One hundred years ago motoring enthusiast Lord Montagu of Beaullieu commissioned sculptor Charles Sykes to make a likeness of his secretary Eleanor Thornton to grace the front of his Rolls Royce car. Since then the Spirit of Ecstasy, as she is knwn in Britain, or the Flying Lady, as she is known in the USA, has become well loved and recognised on the bonnets (hoods) of thousands of Rolls Royce cars throughout the World. The much photographed lady stands looking forward on a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost car in Yass, New South Wales. The historic house in the background is Cooma Cottage.