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

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

and former soldier.

Background and education

Mackeson is the son of Sir Harry Mackeson, 1st Baronet, and his wife Alethea Cecil Chetwynd-Talbot. His grandfather Henry Mackeson was the founder of the Mackeson brewery. He was educated at

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

and Sandhurst.

Career

After serving four years in the

Royal Horse Guards The Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, also known as the Blues, or abbreviated as RHG, was one of the cavalry regiments of the British Army and part of the Household Cavalry. In 1969, it was amalgamated with the 1st The Royal Dragoons to form the ...

, Mackeson began working in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. 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 Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. 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 sports, 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 g ...

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

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

about the cloning of a

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

winner. He also writes for the ''

Racing Post ''Racing Post'' is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing, and sports betting publisher published in print and digital formats. It is printed in tabloid format from Monday to Sunday. , it has an average daily circulation of 60,629 ...

'' 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