56: The Thrilling World of Dick Francis

Jan 15, 2026

Guest

Derek Thompson

Guest

Felix Francis

Felix Francis, crime novelist and son of the legendary Dick Francis, shares insights into his father's extraordinary life as a wartime pilot, champion jockey, and bestselling author. Derek Thompson, a veteran racing commentator, brings entertaining anecdotes from the track. They discuss the dramatic 1956 Grand National collapse of Devon Loch, Dick's seamless transition from racing to writing, and how Felix modernizes the family legacy with new characters and stories. Their genuine love for racing and storytelling shines through this captivating conversation.

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ANECDOTE

Devon Loch's Collapse Changed Everything

Felix Francis recounts Devon Loch collapsing 40 yards from winning the 1956 Grand National, a defining moment in Dick Francis's life.
That catastrophe pushed Dick Francis to retire from racing and start writing, launching his second career.

ANECDOTE

TV Retirement Led To A Writing Break

Felix describes how his father announced retirement on live TV after injuries and racing setbacks.
That TV announcement led to a Sunday Express offer and a new career as a racing journalist and novelist.

INSIGHT

A Family Crafted The Brand

Felix says the Francis novels were a true family collaboration with Dick plotting and Mary polishing prose.
That partnership created the ‘Dick Francis’ brand and sustained consistent yearly output.

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Wartime bomber pilot, champion jockey, racing journalist, bestselling novelist, Dick Francis truly was a legend. The Slightly Foxed team join Dick’s son Felix and renowned racing commentator Derek Thompson (‘Tommo’ to his fans) to talk about the modest man who left school at 15 but went on to write thrillers set in the world of racing that have sold more than 60 million copies in 35 languages.

Dick grew up with horses and riding was in his blood, though he didn’t become a professional jockey until he was 26, an age when many jockeys are retiring. But he quickly became one of the most successful National Hunt jockeys (and Champion Jockey in 1953–4), riding winners for top owners including the Queen and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. And it was the spectacular collapse of the Queen Mother’s horse Devon Loch beneath him on the point of winning the Grand National in 1956 that finally persuaded Dick to retire from racing and begin a new career, first as a journalist and then as a writer of endlessly inventive crime fiction.

So how did he do it? The novels, with their evocative titles – Dead Cert, Decider, Bolt, Hot Money – take you straight into the world of old-fashioned racing with its toffs and touts and inevitable shady characters. According to Felix, the writing of them was always a partnership, with Dick, a born storyteller, producing the plots and the atmosphere and his wife Mary as brilliant researcher and editor. Felix, too, helped with writing and research, and after Dick’s death in 2010 he was persuaded by Dick’s literary agent to keep the Francis ‘brand’ alive. He is now the author of 19 bestselling ‘Dick Francis’ novels, bringing the racing scene up to date with a female jockey as the heroine of his latest, Dark Horse.

Along with Dick Francis’s story of talent, courage and sheer determination – one he told himself in his autobiography The Sport of Queens – the team enjoyed added anecdotes and insights into the world of racing from ‘Tommo’, and an ending that had us on the edge of our seats.