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Richard Stanley "Dick" Francis CBE FRSL (31 October 1920 – 14 February 2010) was a British〔(Our favourite thriller writer Dick Francis is back in the saddle ), entertainment.timesonline.co.uk〕 steeplechase jockey and crime writer, whose novels centre on horse racing in England.〔(Dick Francis obituary ), guardian.co.uk〕〔(Author Dick Francis dies aged 89 ), guardian.co.uk〕〔 〕 After wartime service in the RAF, Francis became a full-time jump-jockey, winning over 350 races and becoming champion jockey of the British National Hunt. He came to further prominence in 1956 as jockey to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, riding her horse Devon Loch when it fell, for unexplained reasons, while close to winning the Grand National. He then retired from the turf and became a professional journalist and novelist. All his novels deal with crime in the horse-racing world, some of the criminals being outwardly respectable figures. The stories are narrated by one of the key players, often a jockey, but sometimes a trainer, an owner, a bookie, or someone in a different profession, peripherally linked to racing. This person is always facing great obstacles, often including physical injury, from which he must fight back with determination. More than forty of these novels became international best-sellers. == Personal life == Francis was born in Coedcanlas, Pembrokeshire, Wales. Some sources report his birthplace as the inland town of Lawrenny, but at least two of his obituaries stated his birthplace as the coastal town of Tenby.〔Obituary ''London Independent'', 16 February 2010.〕〔 〕 His autobiography says that he was born at his maternal grandparents' farm at Coedcanlas on the estuary of the River Cleddau, roughly a mile north-west of Lawrenny. He was the son of a jockey and stable manager and he grew up in Berkshire, England.〔(Dick Francis interview for Even Money ), telegraph.co.uk〕 He left school at 15 without any qualifications, with the intention of becoming a jockey and became a trainer in 1938. During World War II, Francis volunteered, hoping to join the cavalry. Instead, he served in the Royal Air Force, working as ground crew and later piloting fighter and bomber aircraft, including the Spitfire and Hurricane.〔 He said in an interview that he spent much of his six years in the Air Force in Africa.〔 In October 1945, he met Mary Margaret Brenchley (17 June 1924 – 30 September 2000)〔 at a cousin's wedding. In most interviews, they say that it was love at first sight. (Francis has some of his characters fall similarly in love within moments of meeting, as in the novels ''Flying Finish'', ''Knockdown'', and ''The Edge''.) Their families were not entirely happy with their engagement, but Dick and Mary were married in June 1947 in London. She had earned a degree in English and French from London University at the age of 19, was an assistant stage manager, and later worked as a publisher's reader. She also became a pilot, and her experiences flying contributed to many novels, including ''Flying Finish'', ''Rat Race'', and ''Second Wind''. She contracted polio while pregnant with their first child, a plight dramatized to a greater extent in the novel ''Forfeit'', which Francis called one of his favorites. They had two sons, Merrick and Felix〔 (born 1953).〔(title= Dick Francis and Felix Francis )〕 In the 1980s, Francis and his wife moved to Florida; in 1992, they moved to the Cayman Islands, where Mary died of a heart attack in 2000. In 2006, Francis had a heart bypass operation; in 2007 his right leg was amputated. He died of natural causes on 14 February 2010 at his Caribbean home in Grand Cayman,〔(Dick Francis, thriller writer and ex-jockey, dies )〕 survived by both sons. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dick Francis」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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