WAIL! I LOVED him!!!

"Francis, who wrote more than 40 best-selling novels* during his career, was also champion jockey in the 1950s and the Queen Mother's jockey. ...

Former jockey John Francome said: "He was a lovely person who always had a sparkle in his eye and he had a wicked sense of humour. ...

*They were all written in the first person and were meticulously researched and written in longhand."
BBC

The only books of his I don't have are his first and last. I didn't buy the first one because it was listed as being about a jockey by some other name. NOW the reports say it was an autobiography; the other must have been some kind of inside joke.

Man, I'll miss him. I took SO much from his characters as a very good way of being...