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The Sport Of Queens; The Autobiography Of Dick Francis
by
Dick Francis
The biography of thriller-writer Dick Francis. Francis is known for setting his novels against the background of horseracing. This revised edition tells how he became one of Britain's leading National Hunt jockeys and a champion steeplechaser, riding as jockey to the Queen Mother.
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Community Reviews
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755)
Oct 08, 2007
Stephanie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
all Dick Francis fans
Shelves:
fantastic-finds
After reading all or nearly all of Dick Francis' novels, imagine my excitement at coming across this 1957 gem at a used book store. For people unfamiliar with Francis' work, this author of more than 30 novels had a first, very successful, career as a jump jockey in England. This book, which launched his career as a writer, tells of how he very nearly won the Grand National. Readers of his novels will marvel at how much of himself he puts into his characters.
By the time I got to the Francis autobiography
The Sport of Queens
, his first book, I was a huge Dick Francis fan and found his first person protagonists so fascinating that I couldn't wait to find out what the man was really like. Unfortunately,
The Sport of Queens
didn't tell me much about him at all. The man just doesn't like to talk about himself. If you're interested in Francis himself, you can learn a lot more about him from his mysteries.
His autobiography – interesting showing how the 2nd WW affected him I had forgotten he was a pilot too
It is amazing to think that someone so brillant, who writes such amazing stories, could have produced this book. It was basically a list of all the horses he rode and all the racecourses. And how different weather conditions affected each different track and each horse. I was disappointed because one just knows that he's had an exciting life, but it just doesn't come across in this book.
Parts of this book were interesting, parts too technical so I skipped those. Overall I'm glad I read it.
This is an autobiography. Doesn't read as well as his fiction but it is interesting. What I read lingers in my thoughts. One such story is that horses if handled properly likes to race. One such horse lost his rider on the first jump. This horse continued the race soaring over all the subsequent jumps until he came in first.
Jockey and author, Dick Francis' autobiography is most memorable for speculating as to why Devon Loch, five lengths ahead, in the final stretch of the 1956 Grand national suddenly jumped and collapsed beneath the author.
I've been reading a lot of Dick Francis novels, and rating them consistently as fours. I give this a five because it was so interesting to see the person behind the books. Seems like he was a great guy!
Full of facts but mostly a race by race, jump by jump account of each of his victories and some of his losses. You have to love and have great interest in steeple chasing to enjoy this book.
I skipped quite a bit in the middle where the author was describing the different racecourses and the different ways of riding. The rest of the book was interesting.
He had a job I would've adored -- horse trainer and steeplechase jockey and rode for the Queen of England. Cool!
Wouldn't mind reading more of the author.
Wouldn't mind reading more of the author.
An interesting read for folks who like his mysteries and want to know about the man behind them. The man loved being a jockey.
Read it because I like him as an author, but this wasn't the same. Of course maybe I shouldn't have expected it to be
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Dick Francis CBE (born Richard Stanley Francis) was a popular British horse racing crime writer and retired jockey.
Dick Francis worked on his books with his wife, Mary, before her death. Dick considered his wife to be his co-writer - as he is quoted in the book, "The Dick Francis Companion", released in 2003:
"Mary and I worked as a team. ... I have often said that I would have been happy to have b ...more
More about Dick Francis...
Dick Francis worked on his books with his wife, Mary, before her death. Dick considered his wife to be his co-writer - as he is quoted in the book, "The Dick Francis Companion", released in 2003:
"Mary and I worked as a team. ... I have often said that I would have been happy to have b ...more
“ones. I could see that I would be inevitably eased out, and not by doubt but by concern.”
—
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