THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

DEAD CERT IN FINDON

Copyright Valerie Martin 2002

First published in Along the Furlong in October 2002

Did you know that a movie was made in Findon based on one of Dick Francis' books?

Richard Stanley Francis was born in the autumn of 1920 in south-west Wales and was the son of a jockey.  To be precise it was a Sunday and the date was 31st October.   As he grew up, he could have been described as horse mad and later horseracing mad.

He served in the Royal Air Force for six years during World War II piloting fighters and bombers, including Spitfires and Lancasters between 1943-46.

Dick became a National Hunt jockey.  He rode more than 350 winners.  He was Champion Jockey in 1953 and 1954 and was retained as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's jockey for four seasons.  He came to the notice of everyone (even those not interested in racing) when riding her horse, Devon Loch, in that ill-fated Grand National of 1956 (in the days before it was called the Martell Grand National).   Devon Loch had the race in his pocket when he inexplicably gave a half-leap only 50 yards from the finishing post.   Sprawling and unseating Dick, and leaving the roaring racing crowd stunned.  Debate still rages as to why this incident happened and it so puzzled Dick that (ably assisted by his wife Mary), he became a thriller writer, inventing mysteries of his own.

From then on, he wrote a racing thriller each and every year to the gratification of his millions of avid fans — and he forwarded a copy of each to the Queen Mother.  His books have sold sixty million copies worldwide, in thirty-five languages.  One of the first of these best sellers was entitled Dead Cert published in 1962.

Dick also wrote a weekly column for the Sunday Express but his racing forecasts were rather hit and miss — perhaps a little more miss than hit.  As in 1962 when he assured his readers that the Grand National was “rarely if ever” won by a racehorse over twelve years old or one that had not won all season.  Captain Ryan Price immediately stepped in and  proved him to be totally wrong when he went on to win with the Findon trained Kilmore that very year.

Dick's son, Merrick, was employed as the Captain's assistant trainer by 1967.  He rode regularly as an amateur jockey.  His father purchased for him a cottage in Findon and they named it Crudwell (after a great horse that Dick had ridden often). 

Merrick had taken another step by 1971 and was enjoying working as Josh Gifford’s assistant trainer.  He married his girlfriend, Elaine Bidgood, a local butcher’s daughter, and the wedding took place in June in the parish church of West Tarring.  Six years later it was to end in divorce.

By 1974 it had been decided to make a film of Dead Cert for the big screen.  Shooting commenced in July that year and starred the now well-known Judi Dench and her real-life husband, Michael Williams.  It was directed by Tony Richardson, whose successes had already included such box office  triumphs as “Look Back in Anger”, “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning” and “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner”. 

The film was made partly on location inside and around Downs House in Stable Lane; in the Downs stables; in Nepcote Lane; Nepcote Green (Wattle House and ancillary shed in the background); and around the hurdles on the Gallops below the Mill House where the Findon Windmill once stood.  Nearby Fontwell Park supplied the local racecourse scenes.

Judy Bradley (Josh Gifford’s secretary) played a small walk-on part in the stable scenes, as did a very young looking Josh Gifford in a weighing room shot.

Dick Francis' son, Merrick, was in charge of the racehorses on the Dead Cert film set.  I understand that there were rather too many hiccups with the running of his horses.   The continuous film-takes made the creatures nervous and skippy.

Judi Dench was actually frightened of the racehorses and Michael Williams was miscast to portray the bad-guy.  He appeared as a 13 stone jockey — and a rather rotund 13 stone at that — and he didn't have the look of a jockey at all. Equity sent two or three stunt men to the village to add a touch of authenticity to the scenes but to begin with they did not have the appearance of jockeys either. 

It was originally anticipated that Dead Cert would be the first of a racing series based on Dick’s books.  The Dick Francis fans waited in anticipation.  Unfortunately, it proved to be a total disaster as the storyline was chopped and changed around so much during actual filming.  The News of the World held it in contempt  and printed “it’s a lame loser” and The Daily Telegraph chipped in and ridiculed the film’s “improbabilities and absurdities”.  

Dead Cert ran for three weeks in the capital and then went for general release.  The film must have been considerable fun to shoot in Findon but was a complete fiasco as a box office puller. Tony Richardson as much as admitted that the film was a non-starter (sorry about that) even though he had hoped it would be a commercial hit. 

Dead Cert was the first Dick Francis story to hit the big screen and the last; no one has attempted one since.  What a shame.  I have seen Dead Cert and can immediately see its flaws — but I liked it because it was filmed in Findon!

Continue if you would like to read Whatever Happened to Michael Robinson?

THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created exclusively for documenting life in Findon.