Comprehensive information and links about Dick Francis

Dick Francis (October 31, 1920Dick Francis is a British jockey and author.

He was born Richard Stanley Francis in Lawrenny, south Wales. The son of a jockey, he had a successful career himself as a jockey, winning over 350 races.

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

His first book was his autobiography, , which was set in the world of racing. Subsequently, he regularly produced a novel a year for the next 38 years, missing only 1998 (during which year 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 ().

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

The 1999 unauthorised biography, , suggested that his books had in fact been written by Mary, Dick Francis' wife. [1] Whether this is 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. Dick Francis himself has written no new works after Mary's death in the year 2000.

As the British writer Tony Barrell has pointed out (London Sunday Times, October 30, 2005), Francis was born on exactly the same day as the late German photographer Helmut Newton.

Dick Francis' manager is his son Felix Francis. Felix left his well-paid post as a teacher at a UK private school (Bloxham School in Oxfordshire) in order to work for his father.

2001 audio interview with Dick Francis by Bill Thompson of Eye on Books, discussing the end of his writing.