Dick Francis(1920-2010)

Dick Francis learned to ride when he was five, on a donkey. His older brother offered him sixpence if he could jump the fence sitting backwards on the donkey. It took five tries, but the determined five-year-old did finally manage to stay on the donkey as he jumped the fence. He collected the sixpence from his brother and earned his first riding fee. Of that experience he says, "In my heart, from that moment, I became a professional horseman." He became an amateur steeplechase rider when he was 26, and two years later began riding as a professional steeplechase jockey. He won more than 350 races, and was retained as jockey to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother for four seasons. Perhaps his most famous and controversial ride was on the Queen Mother's horse, Devon Loch, in the 1956 Grand National. Fifty yards from the finish line, with the race virtually won, the horse just suddenly fell. Afterwards, they could find nothing wrong with the horse, and the mystery as to what happened has never been solved. Soon after, at 36, Francis decided to retire as a jockey. He became a racing correspondent for the Sunday Express and published his first book, an autobiography entitled "The Sport of Queens," in 1957. His first mystery novel, "Dead Cert," was published in 1962. Since then he has written an average of a mystery per year, to the delight of his many fans. He writes about what he knows best, and each novel touches on racing and horses in some way. The mysteries are more than simple "horse stories," though, as Francis uses his descriptive style to bring to life heroes who are actors, artists, photographers, bankers, contractors, wine merchants, inventors, diplomats, teachers, pilots, meteorologists - and the list goes on. Francis speculated in his autobiography that he would be remembered as "the man who didn't win the National", but to his many fans around the world, he will always be the definitive Master of Mystery.