Dick Francis with his wife Mary at Buckingham Palace in 2000 after the author was appointed CBE
Picture: PA'A modest man, with little to be modest about'
Champion jockey Tony McCoy and Racing Post director Brough Scott were among those to pay tribute to Dick Francis, the former champion jump jockey and best-selling author who died on Sunday.
Tony McCoy said: "I met him a few times and it is very sad. He was a proper racing legend, up there with the likes of Vincent O'Brien. He achieved it all."
Lady Oaksey, wife of journalist and broadcaster John (Lord Oaksey), said: “Dick Francis and John were great friends. He wrote the most wonderful novels and he enthralled so many millions of people from all walks of life. Through his writing he brought racing to the forefront.”
Brough Scott, Racing Post director, said: “He was a modest man with precious little to be modest about. He was a high achiever who never lost his human touch. He was someone to treasure and I was honoured to be his friend.
"He was a wonderful jockey, a champion jockey, who then went on to become a uniquely successful and industrious novelist. He never changed either.
"Even when he lost his leg two years ago, I went to visit him in hospital and someone had left a claret which we drank. He came to the opening of Oaksey House and, although very ill, he was very polite and friendly as always. He was someone who was impossible not to like as much as one admired.”
Read more in Monday's Racing Post, including a full obituary by John Randall - buy the PDF newspaper online from 9am
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