Dick Francis

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Dick Francis
Occupation Novelist, retired jockey
Nationality
British
Writing period 1957-present
Genres Crime fiction
Dick Francis.com Official website

Dick Francis CBE (born Richard Stanley Francis on October 31, 1920) is a British author and retired jockey.

Contents

[edit] Early life

He was born Richard Stanley Francis in Lawrenny, south Wales, the son of a jockey and stable manager [1].

During World War II, he served in the Royal Air Force, piloting fighter and bomber aircraft, including the Spitfire.

[edit] Horse racing career

He left the RAF in 1946 to become a celebrity in the world of British National Hunt racing.[2] He won over 350 races, becoming champion jockey in the 1953-54 season.[3]

From 1953 to 1957 he was jockey to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. In 1957 he was forced to retire from racing as the result of a serious fall. His most famous moment as a jockey came while riding the Queen Mother's horse, Devon Loch, in the 1956 Grand National when the horse inexplicably fell when close to winning the race.

[edit] Writing career

His first book was his autobiography, The Sport of Queens (1957), which led to him becoming the racing correspondent for the London Sunday Express, a position he held for 16 years. In 1962, he published his first thriller, Dead Cert, set in the world of racing. Subsequently, he regularly produced a novel a year for the next 38 years, missing only 1998 (during which he published a short-story collection). Although all his books were set against a background of horse racing, his heroes held a variety of jobs from artist (To the Hilt) to private investigator (Odds Against).

Francis is the only three-time recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award for Best Novel, winning for Forfeit in 1970, Whip Hand in 1981, and Come to Grief in 1996. Also in 1976 he was given the Grand Master Award, the highest honor bestowed by the MWA.

Graham Lord's 1999 unauthorised biography, Dick Francis: A Racing Life, suggested that his books had in fact been written by Francis' wife, Mary. [1] Whether true or not, by all accounts Mary did much of the research and editing of Francis' later novels and stories, and often worked collaboratively with her husband on each book's actual composition. After Mary's death in the year 2000, Francis wrote no new works until Under Orders (a racing term for when the horses are at the start and subject to the starter's orders), released in September 26, 2006.[2]

Dick Francis' manager (and research assistant on the new book) is his son Felix, who left his well-paid post as a teacher at a UK private school (Bloxham School in Oxfordshire) in order to work for his father and who was the inspiration behind a leading character in the novel Twice Shy. His other son, Merrick, formerly a racehorse trainer, later ran his own horse transport business, thus inspiring the novel Driving Force.

[edit] Books

  • The Sport of Queens (1957)
  • Dead Cert (1962)
  • Nerve (1964)
  • For Kicks (1965)
  • Odds Against (1965)
  • Flying Finish (1966)
  • Blood Sport (1967)
  • Forfeit (1968) ISBN 0-425-20191-0
  • Enquiry (1969)
  • Rat Race (1970)
  • Bonecrack (1971)
  • Smokescreen (1972)
  • Slayride (1973) ISBN 0-671-83271-9
  • Knockdown (1974)
  • High Stakes (1975)
  • In the Frame (1976)
  • Risk (1977)
  • Trial Run (1978)
  • Whip Hand (1979)
  • Reflex (1980)
  • Twice Shy (1981)
  • Banker (1982)
  • The Danger (1983)
  • Proof (1984)
  • Break In (1985)
  • Bolt (1986)
  • Hot Money (1987)
  • The Edge (1988)
  • Straight (1989)
  • Longshot (1990)
  • Comeback (1991)
  • Driving Force (1992)
  • Decider (1993)
  • Wild Horses (1994)
  • Come to Grief (1995)
  • To the Hilt (1996)
  • 10 LB. Penalty (1997)
  • Field of Thirteen (1998) - short stories
    • 1. Raid at Kingdom Hill (The rape of Kingdom Hill/The race at Kingdom Hill)
    • 2. Dead on red
    • 3. Song for Mona
    • 4. Bright white star (first appeared Christmas 1979 in Cheshire Life)
    • 5. Collision course
    • 6. Nightmare (Nightmares) Nattmara (first appeared in The Times 4/13/74)
    • 7. Carrot for a chestnut
    • 8. The gift (A day of wine and roses/The big story)(first appeared in Sports Illustrated 5/7/72)
    • 9. Spring fever
    • 10. Blind chance (Twenty-one good men and true)(first appeared in "In Verdict of Thirteen: A Detection Club Anthology" 1979)
    • 11. Corkscrew
    • 12. The day of the losers (Fix the National)(first appeared 2/4/77 in Horse and Hound)
    • 13. Haig's death
  • Second Wind (1999)
  • Shattered (2000) ISBN 0-399-14660-1
  • Under Orders (2006)
  • Dead Heat (2007) ISBN 978-0-399-15476-8
  • Silks (2008) ISBN 978-0-718-15457-8
  • The Horse That Went Away to the Other Side (2008)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Sport of Queens
  2. ^ The Sport of Queens
  3. ^ The Sport of Queens

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION
DATE OF BIRTH
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH