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Richard Stanley Francis (Dick Francis)

リチャード・スタンリー（ディック）・フランシス

Richard Stanley (Dick) Francis

Pen Names: Dick Francis（Pen name / commonly used author name）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1920-10-31 （Coedcanlas (Pembrokeshire), Wales）
Died
2010-02-14 （Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands） age 89
Nationality
British
Languages
English
Residence History
Grew up in Maidenhead, Berkshire → Lived in Blewbury (then Berkshire, now Oxfordshire) for nearly 30 years → Florida, USA (1980s) → Cayman Islands (from 1992)

Career

Occupations
Jockey, Novelist, Journalist
Active Years
1957-2010
Affiliations
Detection Club, Royal Society of Literature (Fellow)
Memberships
Detection Club, Royal Society of Literature (Fellow)
Influenced
Felix Francis (son)

Awards

Edgar Award (Best Novel)
1970
Work: Forfeit
Category: Best Novel
Organization: Mystery Writers of America
Result: 受賞
Edgar Award (Best Novel)
1981
Work: Whip Hand
Category: Best Novel
Organization: Mystery Writers of America
Result: 受賞
Edgar Award (Best Novel)
1996
Work: Come to Grief
Category: Best Novel
Organization: Mystery Writers of America
Result: 受賞
Gold Dagger
1979
Work: Whip Hand
Category: Fiction
Organization: Crime Writers' Association
Result: 受賞
Cartier Diamond Dagger (Lifetime Achievement)
1989
Category: Lifetime Achievement
Organization: Crime Writers' Association
Result: 受賞
MWA Grand Master Award
1996
Category: Lifetime Achievement
Organization: Mystery Writers of America
Result: 受賞
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
1983
Organization: The British honours system
Result: 叙勲
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
2000
Organization: The British honours system
Result: 叙勲（昇進）
Honorary Doctorate
1991
Organization: Tufts University
Result: 授与
Japan Adventure Fiction Association Prize
1984
Work: Proof
Organization: Japan Adventure Fiction Association
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Sport of Queens (autobiography)

1957 Autobiography / Non-fiction

Autobiography recounting his life as a jockey and experiences including WWII service.

horse racingmemoir

Dead Cert

1962 Crime fiction / Thriller

A crime thriller set in the horse-racing world; protagonist Alan York, a young jockey, becomes embroiled in conspiracy and crime.

horse racingbetrayalrevenge
Adaptations
  • [Film] Dead Cert (1974) / Tony Richardson (1974)
  • [Television (Soviet)] Favorit (1976) (1976)

Forfeit

1968 Crime fiction

A crime novel featuring a reporter as protagonist; draws on family experiences including his wife's illness.

investigationpersonal hardship

Whip Hand

1979 Crime fiction

Features Sid Halley, a former jockey who lost an arm; a story about revenge and justice.

disability and comebackrevengecorruption in horse racing
Adaptations
  • [TV film] Whip Hand (TV adaptation) (1979)

Come to Grief

1995 Crime fiction

A Sid Halley novel; one of the author's notable detective works that won the Edgar Award.

justicesettling the past

Bibliography

  • The Sport of Queens (1957)
  • Dead Cert (1962)
  • Forfeit (1968)
  • Whip Hand (1979)
  • Come to Grief (1995)
  • Under Orders (2006)
  • Dead Heat (2007) (with Felix Francis)

Adaptations

  • Film adaptations such as Dead Cert (1974)
  • TV movies featuring Sid Halley (1979–1980)
  • BBC Radio adaptations (multiple)
  • Video game/text-adventure adaptations (High Stakes, Twice Shy)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Matter-of-fact, accessible narration that incorporates professional and horse-racing detailPrimarily first-person narration with plot-driven pacing
Recurring Motifs
horse racing and its peripheral industriesinjury/disability and recoveryuse of professional expertise to resolve problemsresourceful protagonists

Health

  • Heart disease (bypass surgery)
    2006
    Underwent coronary bypass surgery in 2006; required ongoing health management afterward.
  • Right foot amputation
    2007
    Right foot was amputated in 2007; affected mobility but he continued writing.

Legacy

Dick Francis achieved international success as a bestselling crime novelist specializing in horse-racing settings and solid plotting. He won multiple major awards and left a lasting influence on the mystery genre.

Academic Societies

  • Royal Society of Literature (Fellow)
  • Mystery Writers of America (award honoree)

In Popular Culture

  • Widely remembered as the jockey of Devon Loch in the Grand National, whose fall became a famous anecdote
  • Numerous novels adapted for film, TV, radio and games, influencing popular culture

Quotes

  • Each one, you think to yourself, 'This is the last one,' but then, by September, you're starting again.
    Source: Interview (1989; on his writing routine) (1989)

Trivia

  • Won over 350 races as a professional jockey and was British National Hunt Champion Jockey in 1953–54.
  • Rode Devon Loch in the 1956 Grand National; the horse inexplicably fell close to victory.
  • Only author to win the Edgar Award for Best Novel three times (1970, 1981, 1996).
  • His wife Mary contributed heavily to research and editing; they worked as a team on many novels.
  • Published more than forty international bestsellers in his lifetime.