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Not Enough Time
This is the rollercoaster story of a great love, between racehorse trainer Henrietta Knight and her husband, Terry Biddlecombe, a hell-raising ex-champion jockey, with two failed marriages and a history of alcoholism behind him. It is a story of triumph over tragedy, as together they reached the pinnacle of success in National Hunt racing and trained Best Mate to win three Cheltenham Gold Cups. It is also a tale of tragedy over triumph, which saw the great horse die at Hen's feet on Exeter racecourse and Terry passing away far too young, in 2014. Hen and Terry were called the odd couple because of their different backgrounds and lifestyles, but their love for each other was to produce one of the most endearing modern day racing romances. Here, in Hen's own moving, humorous, courageous words, is their story, told in full for the very first time.
337 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 8, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 9, 2017
Brilliant
A true love story of two individuals devoted to each other, sharing all aspects of life especially the highs. Brilliant Read.
A true love story of two individuals devoted to each other, sharing all aspects of life especially the highs. Brilliant Read.
April 3, 2023
Funny, sad, heart warming ,interesting, enjoyable, surprising, etc etc.
December 13, 2015
Not so much a book, more the longest love letter you will ever read. When Henrietta was a young woman, she'd have had a million rivals had she chosen to pursue Terry Biddlecombe. At five-eleven, Terry was unusually tall for jockey. He was blond and handsome. He courted danger more often than he courted women (and that is saying something), and he treated injuries with contempt - no man flu for Terry. In fact, if there is an opposite to hypochondriacs, National Hunt jockeys are it, and Terry was among the boldest. He had 47 fractures, which bedevilled him as he got old, and which Hen perpetually tried to ease with love, lotion, and cortisol.
I followed Terry in his riding days, and was a big fan, as were all supporters of NH racing. I remember an article the TImes ran in its Sunday supplement (probably in the early 1970s). It featured a full-length picture of Terry captioned with all the bones he had broken and the injuries he'd suffered. He was a big star back then. But, when he stopped riding, much of the glitter was drowned in alcohol and he became a sad and sorry case. Then, he met Hen. Her life, and his, from that moment, is what blossoms in this book.
Terry does not 'scan well' on paper. He comes across as foul-mouthed and selfish, and you wonder how Hen could have been so deeply in love with him. But gradually, through her eyes, things become clear. And what you see is not so much a man reborn, but a woman in the first full flush of love, at a relatively late stage in her life, when she must have thought all chance had faded. Not that she had ever gone seeking a man. She was happy, well balanced, and committed to the life she had built. That building had foundations of privilege; she'd never deny that, but she comes across as a gentle, caring woman for whom class distinction would never arise. You can see why she so admired Terry for the way he treated all men alike.
It's a joy to experience through her writing a love unexpected; and that's where the true beauty and pathos lies. It was not a love hard fought for or long-sought. It was a blessed surprise, a revelation, coming to a life that had been lived in a steady, pleasant breeze. From that, it blasted immediately into a twenty-year hurricane that consumed them both. How lucky those rare couples are who find such emptiness in being parted, even for a day. But there's a price on such luck, and it is levied by the grim reaper, leaving the bereft only the memories and the longing that is so profoundly present in every page of this book. But for all her pain at the loss of her husband, you never doubt that Hen would not have surrendered a minute of those twenty years for a week free of grieving.
It is not an exciting book. It is not a tale for racing diehards. It is, above all, a eulogy to a lost love...a long and exquisitely tender goodbye.
I followed Terry in his riding days, and was a big fan, as were all supporters of NH racing. I remember an article the TImes ran in its Sunday supplement (probably in the early 1970s). It featured a full-length picture of Terry captioned with all the bones he had broken and the injuries he'd suffered. He was a big star back then. But, when he stopped riding, much of the glitter was drowned in alcohol and he became a sad and sorry case. Then, he met Hen. Her life, and his, from that moment, is what blossoms in this book.
Terry does not 'scan well' on paper. He comes across as foul-mouthed and selfish, and you wonder how Hen could have been so deeply in love with him. But gradually, through her eyes, things become clear. And what you see is not so much a man reborn, but a woman in the first full flush of love, at a relatively late stage in her life, when she must have thought all chance had faded. Not that she had ever gone seeking a man. She was happy, well balanced, and committed to the life she had built. That building had foundations of privilege; she'd never deny that, but she comes across as a gentle, caring woman for whom class distinction would never arise. You can see why she so admired Terry for the way he treated all men alike.
It's a joy to experience through her writing a love unexpected; and that's where the true beauty and pathos lies. It was not a love hard fought for or long-sought. It was a blessed surprise, a revelation, coming to a life that had been lived in a steady, pleasant breeze. From that, it blasted immediately into a twenty-year hurricane that consumed them both. How lucky those rare couples are who find such emptiness in being parted, even for a day. But there's a price on such luck, and it is levied by the grim reaper, leaving the bereft only the memories and the longing that is so profoundly present in every page of this book. But for all her pain at the loss of her husband, you never doubt that Hen would not have surrendered a minute of those twenty years for a week free of grieving.
It is not an exciting book. It is not a tale for racing diehards. It is, above all, a eulogy to a lost love...a long and exquisitely tender goodbye.
November 17, 2015
Thank you Goodreads for sending me this book. A true love story between Henrietta and her husband Terry Biddlecombe, who was a champion jockey in the 60’s and 70’s. Henrietta has written with great accuracy and in chronological order her life and relationship with Terry. This book would be a great read for fans of horse racing. It is very funny in parts and Henrietta has managed to portray her husband in a fantastic way. I really enjoyed this read.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews