Overview
With the full backing of both the Churchill family and the Churchill College Archives, and using hitherto un-shown diaries and photographs
Horses were at the heart of the Greatest Briton of them all, Sir Winston Spencer Churchill. They were his escape in childhood, his challenge in youth, his transport in war, his triumph in sport, and his diversion in dotage. This book traces all the ways horses affected his life, from the rough ride his mother had while returning from a shooting party that caused Churchill’s premature birth, to the time spent riding through childhood, and as he grew into adulthood, when riding horses increasingly became the means of proving the courage that was to become the very core of his being. The book covers his riding in the Royal Military Academy, his leading a 1,200 horse gallop of the Oxfordshire Hussars at Yeomanry camp, his boar hunting in France, his playing polo into his 50s, and his purchase at the age of 75 a front running grey that won 14 races and triggered ecstatic scenes as his homburg-hatted, cigar-chewing owner gave V for Victory signs in the unsaddling enclosure.
Reviews
"This is by far the best book on racing I have ever read. It combines a truly extraordinary story one that no novelist would have dared to submit with brilliant writing by an author who is almost as knowledgeable about horses and the turf as his subject. It is a just tribute to a man who deserves to be admired beyond even his achievements." —Stoker Devonshire, The Spectator
"The story of Henry Cecil's life is what the whole world of racing has been waiting for. Brough's book is a masterpiece and does the maestro full justice." —Ian Balding, Derby-winning trainer
Author Biography
Brough Scott is a former professional jockey, an award-winning writer and broadcaster, and a grandson of Churchill’s heroic friend Jack Seely, author of Warrior. Sir Nicholas Soames is a member of parliament and the grandson of Winston Churchill.