Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey

Subject: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: Mrrzy
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 02:32 PM

Man, will he be missed. I wish I could think of something suitably horsey to say...

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: sciencegeek
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 02:35 PM

Sorry to hear the news. Wonder how often the clip of him falling off the favorite in the stretch will get aired this week.

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 02:44 PM

To mis quote Bill the Shake, May winged horses fly thee to thy rest
Sal

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 02:47 PM

A fine jockey indeed: and let us not forget also a distinguished writer in his chosen field of thrillers with a racing setting.

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: Gurney
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 02:50 PM

No more Christmas book for me. I have about 30 of his.
Commiserations to Felix and the family.

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: wysiwyg
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 03:13 PM

Mrr, "naaaaaaayyyy!"

One of my favorite authors also.

~S~

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: Mrrzy
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 03:15 PM

Hey, if you're talking about Devon Loch, the horse went down, he stayed on... but it did make him famous.

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 04:45 PM

Very enjoyable mysteries. He will be missed.

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: JennieG
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 05:32 PM

Yes, Q, his books are a good read. When I worked in libraries it was funny (funny peculiar, not funny ha-ha) how popular an author suddenly became as soon as they died - perhaps it was the publicity.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 06:26 PM

I think I've read everything he's written. He'll be missed by many and by me, too.

Linn

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: EBarnacle
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 11:35 PM

I'm still discovering his stuff. Always worth reading once.

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: Nancy King
Date: 14 Feb 10 - 11:40 PM

I've enjoyed Francis' novels for many years. I've read them in print AND listened to the recorded versions -- all terrific. Sad to know there won't be any more.

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 01:45 AM

BBC made a few of them into mysteries that appeared on PBS 20 years ago or more. They were edgier than a lot of the mysteries they used to play, but I liked them.

I came across a box of many of his mysteries at a garage sale and researched them to sell on eBay. I have a few duplicates here that I kept to read myself. I sold the rest because I know I can get copies at the library. They always have lots of his stuff. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: Bugsy
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 05:01 AM

Here's the obituary

Dick Francis RIP

Bugsy

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: catspaw49
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 05:37 AM

Both Karen and I loved Dick Francis. While the "horsey theme" was the general backdrop to the stories, most also went into some other profession or hobby as well, often reflected by the title. We loved the fact that his wife did the research for him in those many areas. Later, one of his sons aided and was also his manager.

They might not be "The Classics" but his books were all wonderfully enjoyable and even a bit of fun for a second reading. The Sid Halley and Kit Fielding books were favorites for us as was his very first novel, Dead Cert.

Thanks for all the great hours of reading.


Spaw

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: Snoozer
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 08:26 AM

Oh no!
One of my all time favorite authors! I always looked forward to the autumn release of a new Dick Francis book. Just this weekend I was looking for something to read and picked his autobiography off my shelf.
I even "met" him years ago at a book signing at a New Jersey racecourse.
He will be sadly missed.

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 12:11 PM

..."Wonder how often the clip of him falling off the favorite in the stretch will get aired this week."

must be some sort of record for the number of errors in one line ...

A) Dick Francis didn't fall off
B) Devon Loch wasn't favourite
C) We don't have a "stretch" on British racecourse, we have a "home straight"

RIP.

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: Nancy King
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 12:54 PM

Bugsy, thanks for posting that obit. Very interesting and informative. I'm glad to know there's still one more Francis novel coming out this fall.

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 01:52 PM

I'm a big fan too. Proper old-fashioned whodunnits, with not too much gore, bad language or hanky-panky. But plenty of hores. There's a few others writing racing-based stuff, but none of them like the Master.

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 02:06 PM

..."But plenty of hores" ...

that's got a "w" at the beginning, Steve ...

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: catspaw49
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 03:14 PM

Good call Murray. I'm loving it..............

Spaw

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: bill\sables
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 06:59 PM

It was Yorkshire Television who made the series of his books called "The Racing Game". I met Dick Francis while I worked on this series.
The opening title shot was filmed at York Racecourse and we used a small stunt man to fall from his horse at a jump. The stunt man was to fall off the left side and the other jockies were to jump to the right to miss the stunt man but he fell off on the right and the director called to keep shooting. All the other horses avoided him completly, they seemed to know not to land on him, We had to stamp an artificial horses hoof in close up onto his hand to complete the shot. On the same title sequence we used a helicoptor to get a shot of the start of the race, the pilot chequed for overhead cables and found none, action was called and the starting gate went up and the chopper crashed straight into it.

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 07:16 PM

Are you sure it was York Racecourse, Bill ?

If it was, they must have constructed fences specially for the shoot, 'cos there aren't any fences at York.

Sure it wasn't Doncaster ?

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: Charley Noble
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 01:43 PM

Bugsby-

Thanks for the link to the obit. However, I was disappointed that no one seems to have any idea who did Francis in. Was it his publishers, in a desperate attempt to drum up more sales? Was it a jealous lover, or simply a fan who felt betrayed? Or was it an old grudge from his racing days?

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 02:05 PM

Son Felix needed more first-authorship? Son Merrick got into trouble training?

Subject: RE: Obit: Author Dick Francis, Queen Mum's Jockey
From: Charley Noble
Date: 16 Feb 10 - 08:25 PM

Indeed, who dun it?

Charley Noble