NEWS
Author, former jockey Francis dead at age 89
Posted: Sunday, February 14, 2010 3:36 PM
by Myra Lewyn
Acclaimed novelist Dick Francis, a former champion jockey and Turf writer who was best-known for his horse racing mystery-suspense books, died early Sunday morning at his home in Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands. He was 89.
Francis gained international fame for his 42 mystery novels based on the racing industry. Approximately 60-million copies of his books, published in more than 20 languages, have been sold. His writings also were a regular feature of Reader’s Digest condensed books.
He also penned The Sport of Queens: The Autobiography of Dick Francis, and a biography of legendary jockey Lester Piggott, A Jockey’s Life: The Biography of Lester Piggott, as well as a volume of short stories.
Francis had invaluable insights into horse racing from which to draw for his novels. He was among England’s most successful National Hunt jockeys in the post-World War II era, winning more than 350 races. He was champion jump jockey of the 1953-'54 season and also rode for the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, in 1956.
A dramatic and fateful moment in his career came that year when Queen Elizabeth’s horse, Devon Loch, collapsed and fell onto his stomach close to the finish line in the Grand National at Aintree with Francis aboard while en route to an apparent clear victory.
Francis retired from riding the next year, but the incident lived on in Grand National lore and served to ignite his writing career.
“It was a terrible thing, but I look back on it now and I can say that if it hadn’t happened, I might never have written a book, and my books certainly helped keep the wolf from the door,” Francis said in 2006.
When he retired, Francis was a racing correspondent for 16 years for the Sunday Express. He began writing novels in 1962 and was honored with the Crime Writer’s Association lifetime achievement award in 1989 and was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2000 for services to literature, the BBC reported.
Francis’ most recent works include Even Money, co-authored by his son Felix, published in September 2009. A new book, Crossfire, also co-authored by his son, is to be published later this year. Dick and Felix Francis’ Silks was a finalist for the 2008 Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award, co-sponsored by Castleton Lyons and THOROUGHBRED TIMES.
Francis also is survived by another son, Merrick. His wife of 53 years, Mary, died in 2000.
A funeral at his home in Grand Cayman is planned, followed by a memorial service in London.
Myra Lewyn is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor
