Sir Rupert Mackeson, 2nd Baronet (born 16 November 1941) is a British

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and former soldier.

Background and education

Mackeson is the son of

Sir Harry Mackeson, 1st Baronet Sir Harry Ripley Mackeson, 1st Baronet (25 May 1905 – 25 January 1964) was a British soldier and Conservative politician. Mackeson was the son of Henry Mackeson and Ella Cecil Ripley. He served in the Royal Scots Greys regiment of the British A ...

, and his wife Alethea Cecil Chetwynd-Talbot. His grandfather Henry Mackeson was the founder of the Mackeson brewery. He was educated at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

and Sandhurst.

Career

After serving four years in the

Royal Horse Guards The Royal Regiment of Horse Guards (The Blues) (RHG) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. Raised in August 1650 at Newcastle upon Tyne and County Durham by Sir Arthur Haselrigge on the orders of Oliver Cr ...

, Mackeson began working in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

. When he left the army, Mackeson found employment running a London bank with strong ties to the Mafia, which Mackeson freely admits. "I ran a Mafia controlled financial institution," he declared in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. Since he "did not want to end up under Blackfriars Bridge," when the "aggravation" of running a "mobbed up" bank became too much for him, Mackeson relocated to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), which was then under the control of a white-minority government. There, Mackeson began a career in smuggling. In order to "curry favor with Mrs.Thatcher", the Rhodesian authorities arrested him and imprisoned him in the Khami prison camp. Within a day, Mackeson was removed from the prison for inciting a riot. When the Rhodesian authorities attempted to extradite him to the UK, Mackeson punched his guard in the nose while on board a plane, forcing the plane to land. When he was finally transported back to the UK, the judge presiding over the case ruled that it was an illegal extradition—a kidnapping, in essence—and had him freed. Since release, Mackeson has become a writer of books about

racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific goa ...

, writing under his own name and also as Rupert Collens. ''Bet Like a Man'' (2001) is a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

about the cloning of a

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

winner. He also writes for the ''

Racing Post ''Racing Post'' is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing and sports betting publisher which is published in print and digital formats. It is printed in tabloid format from Monday to Sunday. , it has an average daily circulation of 6 ...

'' and runs a mobile bookshop and art gallery which operates on British racecourses.

Books as Rupert Mackeson

*''Great Racing Gambles and Frauds'' *''Flat Racing Scams and Scandals'' (Metro Publishing, 2004) *''Bet Like a Man'' (Eye Ltd, Bridgnorth, 2001)

Books as Rupert Collens

*''50 Cheltenham Gold Cups'' *''Cecil Aldin's Dogs and Hounds'' *''25 Legal Luminaries from Vanity Fair'' *''Snaffles: His Life and Works'' (with John Welcome) *''Snaffles on Racing and Point to Pointing'' (with John Welcome) *''Snaffles on Hunting'' (with John Welcome)

References

*Kidd, Charles, and Williamson, David (editors): ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition) (New York: St Martin's Press, 1990)
Rupert Mackeson at Eye BooksRacing Diary: Mackeson, a man of many parts
* *''R. v. Sir Rupert Mackeson (extradition)'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Mackeson, Rupert 1941 births Living people Alumni of Trinity College Dublin English male journalists English non-fiction writers 21st-century English novelists Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst 2 People educated at Harrow School Royal Horse Guards officers English male novelists 21st-century English male writers