Rupert Mackeson
Sir Rupert Mackeson, 2nd Baronet (born 16 November 1941) is a British author and former soldier.
Background and education[edit]
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, Trinity College, Dublin and Sandhurst.
Career[edit]
After serving four years in the Royal Horse Guards, Mackeson began working in the City of London. When he left the army, Mackeson found employment running a London bank with strong ties to the Mafia,[1] which Mackeson freely admits. "I ran a Mafia controlled financial institution," he declared in The Guardian.[2] Since he "did not want to end up under Blackfriars Bridge,"[2] when the "aggravation"[2] 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.[2] 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.[1] Within a day, Mackeson was removed from the prison for inciting a riot.[1] 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.[3] 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.[4]
Since release, Mackeson has become a writer of books about racing, writing under his own name and also as Rupert Collens. Bet Like a Man (2001) is a novel about the cloning of a Derby winner. He also writes for the Racing Post and runs a mobile bookshop and art gallery which operates on British racecourses.[5][6]
Books as Rupert Mackeson[edit]
- Great Racing Gambles and Frauds
- Flat Racing Scams and Scandals (Metro Publishing, 2004) ISBN 978-1-84358-042-3
- Bet Like a Man (Eye Ltd, Bridgnorth, 2001) ISBN 1-903070-13-9
Books as Rupert Collens[edit]
- 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[edit]
- ^ a b c Armytage, Marcus (6 December 2001). "Racing Diary: Mackeson a man of many parts". Retrieved 25 July 2018 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
- ^ a b c d Buckley, Will (9 December 2001). "Mackeson turns his hand to fiction". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
- ^ "6 Epic Crime Sprees That Shouldn't Have Been Possible". Retrieved 25 July 2018.
- ^ "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
- ^ "Back again". 20 November 2001. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
- ^ Buckley, Will (9 December 2001). "Mackeson turns his hand to fiction". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
- Kidd, Charles, and Williamson, David (editors): Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition) (New York: St Martin's Press, 1990)
- Rupert Mackeson at Eye Books
- Racing Diary: Mackeson, a man of many parts[dead link]
- The Baronetage at leighrayment.com[usurped]
- R. v. Sir Rupert Mackeson (extradition)
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
- 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
- Mackeson baronets
- People educated at Harrow School
- Royal Horse Guards officers
- English male novelists
- 21st-century English male writers