Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive.

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

The program was originally broadcast in 1998, and the presenter was Sue Lolly. My castaway this week is a novelist. World famous for his stories about horse racing,

the public will never forget him riding Devon Loch, owned by the Queen Mother in the 1956 Grand

National. The horse well into the lead on the home

straight sank to the ground 50 yards from the finishing post. Not long after, injuries forced

the jockey into retirement as well, but since then, once a year, he's

written a book. They've all got horses in them. Most of them have been bestsellers, and the

Queen Mother always gets a copy. He's worried now he's 78's whether he can keep up his strike rate,

but then being an author, however successful, is still second best for him.

I'd rather be a jockey any day, he says. He is Dick Francis. Do you still ride Dick if only for fun?

No, Sue, I'm afraid I haven't ridden for about 10 or 15 years.

Do you miss it?

Um, not really, no, I'm, it's a young man's job.

It's like flying airplanes.

It's a young man's job and I like walking along the beach every morning and just having a swim.

But just explain to me, I wonder why writing has never given you the same pleasure as being

a jockey.

After all, you've had much greater success as a writer than you did as a jockey?

Yes, I suppose I have.

I've been at it longer.

I rode racing for 10 years.

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