Dick Francis: a racing life

by Graham Lord

For nearly 40 years, from 1962 to 1999, a new Dick Francis horseracing thriller was published every autumn to the delight of millions of fans all over the world. His books sold 60 million copies in 34 languages, won several awards and were praised lavishly by admirers as varied as Sir Kingsley Amis, Philip Larkin and the Queen Mother. So how did Francis do it, this legendary ex-champion jockey who hated school and left at 15 without any qualifications yet whose books shot straight to the top of the bestseller list each Christmas? He did it with an immense amount of help from his amazing wife, Mary, who died in 2000 and of whom he often said that he wished she would let him put her name as co-author on the covers of the books. Dick and Mary Francis created a spectacularly successful literary partnership, and the story of the Dick Francis books was the story of them both.

Graham Lord knew the Francises for nearly 30 years and in this revealing double biography he tells not only the riveting tale of Dick’s remarkable life – the horsey Welsh childhood, the triumphs as champion jump-jockey, the 1956 Grand National tragedy when he so nearly won the race on the Queen Mother’s horse Devon Loch – but also the intriguing secret story of Dick’s astonishing wife. Mary and Dick fell in love at first sight, at a cousin’s wedding, and for more than 50 years were inseparable, creating not only a triumphant working partnership but also an idyllically close marriage, with two sons, that was the envy of all who knew them.

Graham Lord’s warm, affectionate, yet sharp and perceptive biography of Dick and Mary Francis is romantic, inspiring and deeply moving – and one of the great love stories of our time.

Genres: Biography

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Uthpala Dassanayake · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry I can’t say many nice things about this book. Author was obsessed with the idea that Dick Francis did not write books but Mary Francis did. As Dick Francis himself has stated he wanted to include Mary as co-author, sowing examples of her strong influence was good enough. But Graham Lord wanted to gun down Dick for visiting races while his wife writing books and using his name on them. Dick and Mary’s life story was used as an excuse to criticize Dick and sometimes gone to an extent where it is ridiculous.
Dick’s writing won the Diamond Dagger, not Booker or Pulitzer. So criticizing them as pieces of great literature is not relevant. You don’t need a thorough education on literature to write such books, some good imagination and commonsense with well researched facts made them enjoyable lite reading. Contrary to author’s accusations, I don’t think there was nothing a guy left school at 15 during pre WWII era cannot write in Dick’s books.
Sometimes it is not clear what Lord is trying to say. He takes book by book and says school leaver at 15 cannot write good books, then says it is badly written, and finally suggests it was written by Mary! I is true that all DF novels’ hero has same character inside though from different backgrounds and in different surroundings and the character reflects DF himself and his values to great extend (Even his naïve warship to Royal family and titled people) But at one point Lord mocks DF for not acting like heroes in books in his real life. That’s actually laughable, does authors of Superman and Tin Tin acts like that in their real lives? Another point Lord brings up is that some books are good and some are bad so good books must be written by Mary while bad ones are by Dick, and he is so annoyed that some people enjoyed the bad ones too and they made a good sale. Well, I personally do not find such an inconsistency in DF’s books but when it comes to other thriller writers such as Alistiar MacLean, Wilbur Smith and Jeffry Archer there were really good ones and extremely lousy ones.
I felt that Lord being a journalist himself, has taken it personnel the way DF books treat journalists. Maybe that’s the reason he is trying to strip down Dick of his fame. This was more like malicious writing than a professional criticism. Only reason that the book get 2 stars instead of 1 is that I enjoyed comparing how much Dick’s real life and character reflected in his books.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m seriously torn about how to review this book. As I read and the tone of the book shifted one way and then another, I wondered whether the author was a legitimate biographer or a tabloid journalist or something in between.

On one hand, Lord obviously did a lot of research. On the other, his biography of the Francises is not objective and he can’t seem to make up his mind about whether he likes them and the novels. In the early part of the book, he is fulsome in his praise for Mary, but dismisses Dick as an uneducated, not very good jockey who got lucky. This, despite quotes from trainers and fellow jockeys who said he was quite good indeed. And, of course, there is Dick’s record, which is well documented. Apparently he thinks Dick charmed the trainers into hiring him then charmed the horses over the fences, a considerable accomplishment for someone so mentally and personally dull as Lord claims Francis to be.

The rest of the book deals with the novels and lifestyle of the Francises in retirement. Again, Lord can’t seem to make up his mind. He credits Mary with actually writing the books and making them marketable and readable while Dick swans around at racetracks and judges horse shows. At the same time, as he evaluates each book individually, he also says that Mary’s “fingerprints are all over” the books he finds most fault with.

After finishing the book, which was too long and quite repetitive, I decided that Lord himself couldn’t decide what kind of book he wanted to write. That may be why it turned out to be neither one thing nor the other.

[Bruce Dinsman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dick Francis Bio

Interesting as biographies go, I was somewhat put off by the author quoting conversations. What I actually like most was the listed references. I understand the controversy that still exists about Mary writing under Dick’s name. Why didn’t the just clear it up? Anyway, I’m ordering a payer back of this for my reference library.

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible

Lord's criticism of Dick Francis is pervasive and repetitive. He never fails to point out that he thinks Mary wrote the books, not Dick, every possible chance he gets. It feels like this is brought up every couple of pages. He is also extremely critical of the novels, giving both a synopsis and belittling the ones he doesn't like as much. Not recommended.

[David Highton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Biography of jockey turned author Dick Francis, and his wife Mary who played a major role in the writing of his books.

[Mike Morgan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the easiest book to read, but interesting to find out more about the author, especially as I loved his books.

[Neville · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I expected. Did not complete the book as I did not find it all that interesting