New series a sure bet

Press, 27 December 1980, Page 9

New series a sure bet

Dick Francis — on horseback or behind a tylewriter —knows how to keep in front of the field. Tha successful jockey turned bestselling author is also behind another winner, Yorkshire Television’s new thriller, “The Racing Game.” The series of five adventure stories by Dick Francis stars Mike Gwilym as Sid Halley, a former jockey who makes a living as a private detective specialising in cases from the racing world. He is helped by a friend and sidekick, Chico Bames (Mick Ford), a judo and karate expert. “The Racing Game” begins on Network One tonight. Like Dick Francis himself, Sid Halley is a for« mer National Hunt jockey who has had to find a new direction in life: in Halley’s case a nasty fall leaves him without the use of his left hand, Francis created Sid Halley, and to some extent gave him the same problems he faced himself when looking for a new career. How does Dick Francis react to writing after the

more physical thrills and excitements of racing? “When you ride a winner it’s over very suddenly and soon the next race comes along. You get pleasure out of the rosettes you get for writing a book for a long time afterwards, although writing is a lot harder than riding horses.” Francis, bom in South Wales in 1920, was brought up in the saddle. Both his father and grandfather worked with horses, and he was soon a young star at local horse shows in the area.

After five years in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, it seemed natural that he should choose to become an amateur jockey. His career was meteoric, and by 1948 he was a National Hunt jockey. He rode some of the most famous horses of the day, including those belonging to the Queen Mother, and was champion jockey in the 1953-1954 season.

Eventually, riding began to take its toll and he began to think about the future.

“I was leading the jock-

ey's table in 1957 when I had a nasty fall and was advised that if I was going to retire, now was the time, when I was' still at the top of. the tree.” Mecause of this, Alternatives and new directions had been on his mind for some time. Things were highlighted after a disastrous ride on the Queen Mother’s horse, Devon Loch. Fifty yards from the Aintree winning post, way ahead of the field, and victory tantalisingly near, the horse suddenly collapsed. A heart-stopping moment. For Dick, a turning point “It was horrible,” says Dick, “but there was a happy irony. Because of that incident I was pressed to write my autobiography, ‘The Sport of Queens’.” Another twist of fate surrounding the Devon Loch publicity led the “Sunday Express” to commission six racing articles. The six turned into a dozen and into a regular column that eventually ran for sixteen years — the ideal job, combining Francis’s love of the racing scene with his newfound career as a writer.

“The Sport of Queens” sold well, and its publishers, Michael Joseph, took up the option on Francis’s first work of fiction, his novel, “Dead Cert,” an aptly-titled thriller that has been followed by 16 more winners in the w o r 1 d-wide bestseller stakes.

Francis still takes every opportunity to visit the races and immerse himself in the racing world, all the time absorbing the background, characters, and situations that will eventually provide the authentic background for a new novel. The incidents in all of his books are based on things that have actually happened. “Some of the characters are painted with more vivid strokes than their real life counterparts though,” he admits. Francis writes one novel a year, starting, after many months of research, in January to meet a deadline of April 30. He is adamant that the praise for his writing career should go to his wife, Mary, who helps with all the research and acts as his first and sharpest critic.