Madam, – I found Dick Francis’s obituary interesting (February 20th). But the opinion that his wife wrote his novels, because of her education, is nonsense. She most likely only helped with spelling, grammar and good advice.
Dick Francis was extremely intelligent. He explored different areas in his novels – the horse world, road transport, painting, flying and high IQ. The comment that he was not educated because he left school early is naive.
I left school in Dublin at the age of 14 to work in a tobacco factory and I am now 74. I had an article on relativity, quantum physics, multi universe and philosophy in the latest edition of the Humanistmagazine.
I have spent a lifetime studying, through reading books, meeting people and travel. The world is full of autodidacts like myself, people with a love and passion for lifelong learning. I have no doubt that Mr Francis was an autodidact. – Yours, etc,