Dick Francis

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The cover of the Pan 1988 paperback edition of Bolt

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

He was born Richard Stanley Francis in Lawrenny, south Wales, the son of a jockey. He himself won over 350 races, becoming champion jockey in the 1953-54 season.

During World War II, he served in the Royal Air Force, piloting fighter and bomber aircraft, including the Spitfire. He left the RAF in 1946 to become a celebrity in the world of British National Hunt racing.

From 1953 to 1957 he was jockey to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. when, 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.

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 horseracing, 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 1996, he was given the Grand Master Award, the highest honor bestowed by the MWA.

He was made an Officer of the most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1984.

The 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.

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)
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
- 5. Collision course
- 6. Nightmare (Nightmares) Nattmara
- 7. Carrot for a chestnut
- 8. The gift (A day of wine and roses/The big story)
- 9. Spring fever
- 10. Blind chance (Twenty-one good men and true)
- 11. Corkscrew
- 12. The day of the losers
- 13. Haig's death
Second Wind (1999)
Shattered (2000) ISBN 0-399-14660-1
Under Orders (2006)