John Oaksey
John Oaksey | |
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Occupation | OBE Honorary Member of the Jockey Club |
Significant horses | |
Carrickbeg, Carruthers |
John Geoffrey Tristram Lawrence, 4th Baron Trevethin and 2nd Baron Oaksey
Early life
He was the son of the noted jurist Geoffrey Lawrence, 1st Baron Oaksey, and his wife Marjorie, daughter of Commander Charles Robinson, RN. He preferred to be called Oaksey, although Trevethin is the longer-established title. In his broadcasting career, he was initially known as John Lawrence before adopting the name John Oaksey when he succeeded to the baronies on the death of his father in 1971. The Oaksey family seat is the parish of Oaksey in the extreme north of Wiltshire, between Malmesbury and Cirencester.[2]
He was educated at
After Eton, he undertook
Career
Jockey
Oaksey had learned to ride on an old
The horse with which he was most closely associated, though, was the staying chaser,
Passing four horses after the final fence, he got up to win on the line by a short head.Cheltenham Festival wins then followed – on Bob Turnell's Sabaria in the 1959
In total, he rode in the Grand National eleven times, completing the course in four of them. Once in the race, he was unseated by his horse and knocked unconscious, but still insisted on filing his copy to the
As his riding career entered its later years, he nearly won a second Whitbread Gold Cup in 1974 on board Proud Tarquin. He passed the post first, but was demoted to second after it was ruled he had interfered with The Dikler. He thought this immensely unfair, saying later, "The passing of time has done nothing to diminish my feeling that a great injustice was done".[10] It was to be his last major race performance. He retired from racing after being injured in a fall at Folkestone in 1975.
As a jockey, he rode as John Lawrence and won 200 races. Although the majority of these were over fences, 20 of his wins came on the flat, including the first three runnings of the Amateurs Derby at
His connection with the
Broadcasting
Oaksey began his broadcasting career while still active in the saddle. The BBC booked him four days before his Grand National ride on Carrickbeg to tour the site by helicopter and talk the audience through the fences.[13] This was followed by his first regular television work which was with Pay-TV, a short-lived pay-as-you-view experiment set up by the boxing promoter Jarvis Astaire in 1965. For a time, they held the contract to broadcast from Kempton races.[13]
He joined
Journalism
In order to ride as an amateur jockey, rules required Oaksey to have another job. Therefore, he took up journalism as a career. He wrote for the
Round the last elbow into the straight … the final dregs of stamina are draining fast for horse and man alike. A hundred yards to go and then Ayala’s head appeared like Nemesis at my knee.
This has been described by fellow racing journalist, Brough Scott as "the greatest single piece of first-person big sporting event narrative in the English language".[12] His commitment to his journalism was described thus by Peter Michell, the Telegraph's sports editor: "Oaksey would gallop for four miles, nip up Mount Kilamanjaro for a spot of exercise and then dictate a thousand words."[16]
He is also noted for his account of
and the script for a film called Something To Brighten The Morning.Injured Jockeys Fund
His lasting legacy to the racing industry is the Injured Jockeys Fund (IJF). This started life as the Farrell-Brookshaw Fund, a charitable foundation started in 1964, after Oaksey's fellow jockeys, Tim Brookshaw and Paddy Farrell, broke their backs in falls at Liverpool. This later became the Injured National Hunt Jockeys' Fund, and ultimately, the Injured Jockeys Fund (IJF), embracing all areas of the sport. Oaksey became its president and figurehead. In 2004, he stated that the IJF had given him "more pride than any of the other activities in my racing life".[13]
In 2009, the IJF retirement complex in Lambourn was named Oaksey House in his honour. There is a statue of him in the grounds.[17]
Awards
His work with the IJF led to his appointment as
The 2013 running of the National Hunt Chase Challenge Cup at the Cheltenham Festival (a race he won in 1959) was named in his honour. In 2014,
Personal life
In 1959 he married John Betjeman's former secretary, Victoria ("Tory") Dennistoun, whose father John ("Ginger") Dennistoun was a racehorse trainer. They had two children:
- KC (born 29 June 1960)[21]
- Hon Sara Victoria Lawrence (born 26 July 1961), a former jockey who married the trainer Mark Bradstock.[6]
The couple split in public fashion when Victoria started a relationship with artist Maggi Hambling.[6]
Oaksey married again, in 1988, to "Chicky" Crocker (née Hunter), who had been married to a family friend. This provoked newspaper headlines and widespread disapproval from his circle as an uncharacteristic act of ungentlemanly behaviour.[13]
In later years, Oaksey suffered from Alzheimer's disease and died in September 2012 at the age of 83. He was survived by his second wife and the children from his first marriage. Memorial services were held for him at Oaksey Parish Church, Wiltshire, and at St. Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, attended by the Princess Royal, amongst others. Addresses were read by Sir Edward Cazalet and Brough Scott.[22]
Arms
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References
- ^ "Former jockey and BBC broadcaster Lord Oaksey dies". BBC Sport. 5 September 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
- ^ "Oaksey Thumbnail History". Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
- ^ a b c d Magee, Sean (19 March 2009). "80 things you should know about John Oaksey at 80". Racing Post. London. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
- ^ "Nottingham". Antiques Roadshow. Series 24. Episode 8. London. 26 February 2013. BBC One. Nottingham Antiques Roadshow. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
- ^ "No. 38886". The London Gazette (Supplement). 18 April 1950. pp. 1833–1833.
- ^ a b c d e "Obituary: Lord Oaksey". The Daily Telegraph. London. 5 September 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
- ^ a b "Lord Oaksey remembered at Bet365 Jump Finale". Sandown Racecourse. 26 March 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
- ^ a b "Carruthers claims Hennessy Gold Cup victory at Newbury". BBC Sport. 26 November 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
- ^ "1963 Grand National Result". sportingchronicle.com. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
- ^ Oaksey 2003.
- ^ Montgomery, Sue (6 September 2012). "Turf mourns jockey, journalist and 'gentleman' Lord Oaksey". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
- ^ a b c Cook, Chris (5 September 2012). "Lord Oaksey, the Injured Jockeys Fund founder, dies after long illness". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
- ^ a b c d e Wilson, Julian (5 September 2012). "Lord Oaksey obituary". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
- ^ "Bookbites: John Oaksey". meettheauthor.co.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
- ^ Barrett, Norman, ed. (1995). The Daily Telegraph Chronicle of Horse Racing. Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Publishing.
- ^ Reason, Mark (5 February 2011). "Sunday Telegraph 50th Anniversary: 50 Years of Sport". The Sunday Telegraph. London. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
- ^ "Oaksey House Official Opening". Lambourn Website. 21 September 2009. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- ^ "No. 50154". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1985. p. 11.
- ^ "Dalakhani scoops award". BBC Sport. 13 November 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
- ^ McGrath, J A (27 November 2008). "Lord Oaksey receives annual Peter O'Sullevan Award for services to racing". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
- ^ "List of Barristers". 4 New Square. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
- ^ Singleton-Hoare, Fuchsia (12 November 2012). "Hundreds gather in Oaksey for thanksgiving service to Lord Oaksey". thisiswiltshire.co.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
- ^ Debrett's Peerage. 1936.
Bibliography
- Oaksey, John (2003). Mince Pie For Starters. ISBN 978-0755310661.