Remember last Christmas’s 'viral phenomenon', Landmarks of the M40 calendar? They’re back with new motorway gift range!

The team behind the unexpected "viral phenomenon" of last Christmas, the Landmarks of the M40 calendar, have unveiled their new M40-related gift range.

This time last year, the calendar dedicated to celebrating the questionable landmarks of the motorway was flying off the shelves thanks to an overnight rush of national press coverage that started with being featured in The Leamington and Warwick Courier and Kenilworth Weekly News, and quickly led to full page spreads in The Times, The Sun and The Daily Mail and a lengthy feature in an episode of Have I Got News For You hosted by Gary Neville.

The calendar sold in its thousands as the many "fans" of the M40 motorway revealed themselves, and now Motorway Vistas, the company behind the Christmas gift of last year, have decided to create a new range of merchandise for the huge number of M40 fans out there.

Angie Allgood, MD of Motorway Vistas explained: “We were inundated with messages of thanks from a huge range of people, retired policemen who’d patrolled the motorway for decades, even people who’d built the motorway and the service stations. It was quite special to realise how genuine and widespread people’s affection for the M40 was.”

Despite hundreds of requests to produce a new calendar for 2024, co-founder Jim Thornton explains why they’ve decided not to this time round: “There aren’t any other landmarks to feature. I mean we were stretching it just to come up with 12 landmarks for one calendar’s worth. We had hundreds of requests to make calendars for other motorways from the M62 to the M5, but we don’t have the necessary knowledge to do them proper justice. So we decided to double down, and make something that enabled M40 fans to show their appreciation not just on one wall in the house, but out and about, at work, and on the road itself.”

Motorway Vistas have created four pieces of merchandise for the M40 lover - mugs, T-shirts, tins of travel sweets and air fresheners - featuring specially commissioned artwork by graphic artist Peter Beddow.

The products are now available online at www.motorwaysvistas.com