by Jilly Cooper
Another pioneer in this field is dear Helen Yeadon with her sanctuary at Greatwood for retired and rescued horses, who often bond most touchingly with autistic children. I would also like to praise the Blue Cross, the Racehorse Sanctuary and in fact all the other sanctuaries everywhere who work so heroically to give these horses a better life.
As I pointed out in my acknowledgements to Jump! any horse’s death is tragic, but I wish animal rights activists would direct their fire more towards the hideously long distances horses have to travel to slaughter houses abroad, or towards sadistic owners who, rather than fork out for a vet’s bill, leave horses to starve or freeze to death outside. Thank goodness for World Horse Welfare and their CEO Roly Owers, and all the other organizations that prevent cruelty.
Equally, one cannot praise too highly the Injured Jockeys Fund, and its great-hearted former president, the wonderfully witty John Francome, his titanic successor, Sir Anthony McCoy, the indefatigable pioneering Vice President, Jack Berry, and Dale Gibson, Industry Liaison Officer to the Professional Jockeys Association.
I also have huge admiration for Michelle Bardsley, training co-ordinator of the Northern Racing College, and Gemma Waterhouse, formerly of the British Racing School at Newmarket, who are so crucial in enabling young people to embark on a career in sport. Three cheers too for the marvellous, much-enlarged Newmarket Racing Museum, which attracts so many thousands to the sport.
Racing is incredibly lucky that night and day, home and abroad, so many races are covered on television. Authors are lucky too. Goodness knows how Surtees and Somerville and Ross got off the ground without the beauty, information and entertainment provided by our three racing channels.
I would like particularly to express my gratitude to charming, unflappable Nick Luck, and all his team on Channel 4, including Alice Plunkett and Clare Balding, Sir Anthony McCoy and former participants John McCririck, John Francome and Mike Cattermole. Huge thanks too to At the Races, whose reports on racing throughout the night were particularly valuable and to their presenters Robert Cooper, Derek Thompson, Jason Weaver, Luke Harvey, Sean Boyce and the irrepressible Matt Chapman.
Nor can I ever express my gratitude sufficiently to the wonderful Diana Keen of Sunset and Vine, who let me come to production meetings, wander all over the set, hurtle in the cameramen’s cars during the races and provided me with DVDs after she made beautiful heroic films of the Grand National and the World Cup.
Racing is also lucky to have such varied supporters from the great Sheikh Mohammed, the splendid increasingly svelte Sheikh Fahad al Thani and his brothers, plus Maurice Hennessy and Juan Carlos Capelli at Longines. And John Franklin, the engaging communications manager of Bollinger, the justifiably official provider of champagne at Ascot and Royal Ascot, adds a lovely sparkle to so many race days.
Racehorses are so swift and beautiful they inspire great copy at lightning speed. The sport again is incredibly fortunate to have the Racing Post chronicling every detail of every adventure. It seems invidious to single out anyone from such a great team, but I have been especially inspired by editor Bruce Millington, the evergreen Howard Wright, Alastair Down, Brough Scott, Steve Dennis, Lee Mottershead, Julian Muscat, Tom Kerr and Martin Stevens and Nancy Sexton on the bloodstock pages.
Equally, the joy as it flies is captured by their photographers, in particular the wondrous Edward Whitaker, who surely Uccello and Stubbs would have venerated. As they would George Selwyn, whose breathtakingly beautiful pictures appear in Owner and Breeder, another glorious magazine, published by ex ROA Chairman, Michael Harris, edited by Edward Rosenthal, and including great writers Emma Berry, Tony Morris, the ubiquitous Rachel Hood, and wonderful interviews by Tim Richardson. Terrific racing photographers also include Dan Abraham and Les Hurley.
Other inspiring authors number Robin Oakley, Marcus Armytage, Ivor Herbert, Bernice Harrison, David Ashforth, Lizzie Price, Marcus Townend, Richard Pitman, Dominic Prince, Felix Francis and Sean Magee, who worked so magically with that most lyrical legend, the great-hearted Sir Peter O’Sullevan. I’d also like to thank the authors of two great books: Equine Stud Management by Melanie Bailey and The Last Resort, a memoire of Zimbabwe by Douglas Rogers.
Racing, in addition, inspires great equine painters: Katie O’Sullivan and Peter Curling, whose hilariously iconoclastic cartoon book The Trainer nearly got him chucked out of racing in Ireland, and Michelle McCullagh, whose drawings turn up in so much racing literature. Having read Jump! Michelle painted a hauntingly beautiful portrait of its heroine Mrs Wilkinson, mother of my naughty hero horse Master Quickly, which now proudly hangs in the drawing room at home.
So many other friends came up with great ideas. The former Home Secretary Michael Howard, over a blissful lunch at the House of Lords, was hilarious on racing in China, as was Robert Cole about China generally. Andrew Parker Bowles was brilliant as usual on racing. Judy Zatonski and Dr Mary Jane Fox were great on greyhounds. Michaela Galova and Marta Dostalova were great role models for my Czech Republic stable girls and dreamt up a lovely stable cat.
My great friends Bruce and Janetta Lee were endlessly helpful on racing in America. Freelance PR Kate Hills advised me on racing promotion, Colin Brown on race-day presentation and Lucy Cavendish on prepping young horses for the sales, Arthur Wade, Ian Minney and Sabina Marland on beautiful gardens, and Carole Adams, our Cotswold Hunt Secretary, on hunting. I also enjoyed a lovely lawn meet held by Toby Rowland and his wife Plum Sykes.
Dr Nattrass, from our Frithwood Surgery, advised me on medical matters, and on the veterinary front I had great guidance from our own vet Shane Jackson and his staff at Bowbridge Veterinary Group, from John McKenna, Shirley Bevin, Tom Austin, hilarious in Ireland, and Dr Jeremy Naylor, who was brilliant on racehorse illness and fertility problems.
My friends as usual provided endless support and input: they include Simon McMurtrie and Emma Devlin, Rupert and Ollie Miles, William and Caroline Nunneley, Rob and Sharon Morgan, Maria Prendergast, Jenny McCririck, Roly Luard, Lucy Lane-Fox, John McEntee, Katie Dashwood, Karina Gabner, Bernie Leadon-Bolger, Giles and Juliet Stibbe, Anthony Winlaw, Timmy Sim, Ingrid Seward, Barrie Foster, Marion Carver and Nell and Carey Buckler. Carey in particular looks after sponsorship at Cheltenham Racecourse, and while on this subject I’d like to thank Cheltenham’s managing director, Ian Renton, and his wife Jean for inviting me to magical racing during the winter months.
This must be the longest bread and butter letter ever written, but to my shame I took down the telephone numbers of so many other people but never followed them up. For this I apologize and even more for anyone who’s helped me who I haven’t included.
All the people who advised me were experts in their own field, but because Mount! is a work of fiction I only took their advice so far as it suited my plot, so any inaccuracies are mine. Equally all the characters are fictional, except those like Sheikh Mohammed, or Her Majesty the Queen, so renowned they appear as themselves.
With the help of Ali Wade of Weatherbys, I’ve truly tried to avoid the names of horses already taken but confess I’ve stuck with Safety Car, which seemed the perfect name for Rupert Campbell-Black’s favourite and most endearing horse. I hope the vrai Safety Car, born in France in 2008, won’t be too furieux.
The great Kenneth Tynan claimed that one should always write about things close to you. My main heroine in Mount! is therefore a Zimbabwean carer, widowed when her husband is gunned down trying to rescue a rhino from poachers. Moving to England, she lands a job caring for Rupert Campbell-Black’s wayward father. After switching to working in Rupert’s yard, she is replaced by a male South African carer.
I am in turn colossally indebted to the many marvellous carers who lived in and looked after my husband Leo in his last years, treated us both with such kindness and cheerfully endured the often long hours. A large majority were supplied by wonderful local agency Corinium Care, managed by Clare Janik. Many came from Zimbabwe or South Africa and provided me with crucial deta
il, inspiration, touching copy for my story and became huge friends. They include Lindy Botha and Ashleen McGovern from Zimbabwe, Lauren Holt, Louise Price, Susan Illing, Gorete Figueira, Norman Cilliers and Jen Lombard, from South Africa, Lois Bell from New Zealand, Melissa Bathfield from Mauritius.
All had different invaluable takes on caring as did the numerous National Health carers, particularly Hazel John, who poured in in the various early stages and again treated both Leo and me with equal love and consideration.
I am particularly grateful to Jen Lombard and Hazel John, who were with me and such an incredible comfort when Leo died. Jen stayed on for several months and was so valuable advising me on South African catering.
Few diseases are slower and crueller than Parkinson’s, few actions crueller and more violent than hacking off rhino horns or elephant tusks. We must find a cure for the first and totally outlaw the second.
A win at the races is hugely exciting, but I really screamed the house down when I learnt my marvellous publishers Transworld had won Publisher of the Year. It is so richly deserved. Led with great flair and kindness by managing director, Larry Finlay, every department is dedicated to cherishing their authors and selling their books.
I have the loveliest, wisest editor in Linda Evans. Greatly aided by the matchless Jo Williamson and the marvellous Bella Bosworth and Alice Murphy-Pyle, who have heroically dealt with getting a big rambling book to the printers and sewing the early seeds of publicity. I must also thank vigilant copy editor Joan Deitch, and the lovely desk editor Viv Thompson, who looked after the nitty-gritty of the process.
One of the incentives to finishing a book is to work on its promotion with my dear, charismatic freelance friend Nicky Henderson, who teams up so well with the serene and lovely Publicity Director Patsy Irwin, and her ace department at Transworld.
I’d also like to thank Bradley Rose for driving me around and being encyclopaedic on football, and Jean Kriek and Kathy Webb for always being so welcoming on the Transworld switchboard. Transworld is only one of the publishing jewels of the Penguin Random House group, so I was particularly touched that Tom Weldon, CEO of such a vast organization, found time to give me much encouragement.
In addition, I am hugely privileged to have an utterly marvellous agent in Vivienne Schuster, who inspires and protects me, sometimes curbs my silliness and always makes me laugh. She has in turn been helped by wonderful assistants Emma Herdman and Jess Whitlum-Cooper.
On the home front, it is impossible to describe how my life has been transformed by my PA, Amanda Butler. Kind, funny, warm, thoughtful, unbossily efficient, she spreads happiness wherever she goes. I must also thank her husband, ‘Postman’ Phil, for heroically delivering manuscripts and copy. Nor can I begin to thank Amanda and two other great friends, Annette Xuereb-Brennan and Mandy Williams, for gallantly deciphering my frightful writing; spotting howlers, making suggestions and miraculously producing a beautiful manuscript in just over a month. Nor would I last a day without Ann Mills, my divine housekeeper of more than thirty years and her joyful friend Moira Hatherall, who so cheerfully and uncomplainingly muck out my house and restore it to order and beauty. If I do any entertaining, they are also inspired party animals.
Since I had a hip operation a year ago and then gashed my other leg rescuing a ladybird, Celia Mackie and Julie Laws have been a source of fun and great comfort, dog walking and looking after me on different nights of the week. Phil Bradley has been equally swift and entertaining whilst driving me about, as has Simon Stroud.
My own family, as usual, have been beyond reproach. Laura Cooper, my stepdaughter, her son Kit and his girlfriend Lucille Cordell-Lavarack have been endlessly solicitous.
Emily, my daughter, a brilliant make-up artist, has been invaluable at de-croning me before smart racing parties. She and her husband Adam Tarrant and their three sons, Jago, Lysander and Acer, provide constant love and joy and marvellous copy, as do Felix and his wife Edwina and their daughters, Scarlett and Sienna. No family could be more cherishing.
The last three years have been tough in that as well as losing Leo, my beloved black rescue greyhound Feather and equally beloved rescued cat Feral both died. My darling remaining black rescue greyhound Bluebell misses them all too, but tries hard to fill the gap.
Finally, I’d like to thank Leo, wherever he is now, for fifty-two never dull years. I was so lucky to be married to a great publisher, whose kindness, stoicism and humour in the face of illness never failed him.
About the Author
Jilly Cooper is a journalist, writer and media superstar. The author of many number-one bestselling novels, she lives in Gloucestershire with her rescued racing greyhound Bluebell.
She was appointed OBE in 2004 for services to literature, and has been awarded honorary doctorates by the Universities of Gloucestershire and Anglia Ruskin.
Also by Jilly Cooper
FICTION
Riders
Rivals
Polo
The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous
Appassionata
Score!
Pandora
Wicked!
Jump!
NON-FICTION
How to Stay Married
How to Survive from Nine to Five
Jolly Super
Men and Supermen
Jolly Super Too
Women and Superwomen
Work and Wedlock
Jolly Superlative
Super Men and Super Women
Super Jilly
Class
Super Cooper
Intelligent and Loyal
Jolly Marsupial
Animals in War
The Common Years
Hotfoot to Zabriskie Point (with Patrick Lichfield)
How to Survive Christmas
Turn Right at the Spotted Dog
Angels Rush In
Araminta’s Wedding
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Little Mabel
Little Mabel’s Great Escape
Little Mabel Wins
Little Mabel Saves the Day
ROMANCE
Emily
Bella
Harriet
Octavia
Prudence
Imogen
Lisa & Co
ANTHOLOGIES
The British in Love
Violets and Vinegar
TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS
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www.penguin.co.uk
Transworld is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com
First published in Great Britain in 2016 by Bantam Press
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Copyright © Jilly Cooper 2016
Cover photography: © Larry Rostant; except horse portrait © Shutterstock
Design by Richard Ogle/TW
Jilly Cooper has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Every effort has been made to obtain the necessary permissions with reference to copyright material, both illustrative and quoted. We apologize for any omissions in this respect and will be pleased to make the appropriate acknowledgements in any future edition.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781448170876
ISBNs 9780593072905 (cased)
9780593072912 (tpb)
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution
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Table of Contents
About the Book
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Cast of Characters in 1786
Cast of Principal Contemporary Characters
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57