Top of the Pops, a Question of Sport and riding Razor Ruddock like a horse: how Frankie Dettori made his mark on popular culture

It should have come as no surprise, given the turbulent nature of Frankie Dettori’s life in the public eye, that his supposed final year in the spotlight was accompanied by a season-long gale of publicity that tested the limits of the Beaufort Scale. That, undoubtedly, had long been part of his retirement plan, although it turns out he isn’t so much retiring as going to work overseas for an indeterminate spell with the option of coming back here whenever he feels like it.

It’s hardly come as a shock, this dramatic U-turn. As 2023 went from good to spectacular, the idea of him stepping away from the big stage became increasingly incongruous. For Frankie, the change of heart means just another flamboyant swish of the cape and time for an umpteenth encore.

After all, who’s going to grumble? He’s been a force of nature for decades – the real injustice being that he hasn’t had a storm named after him yet – and when you make waves like he does, nobody’s going to stand in your way.