jilly cooper
Monty's Glory!

Once again I’m truly sorry I’ve lapsed in keeping up my website. So much has happened since I last wrote, I truly haven’t had a moment to think, but I promise I’ll catch up soon. For the moment I just want to say I had a fabulous tour promoting the paperback of Wicked! and had hilarious times going on Woman’s Hour and taking Feather our greyhound on the Paul O’Grady Show where he met the famous Buster and going on This Morning with Fern Britten and Philip Schofield. Most thrilling thing of all was Wicked! going to Number 4 after three days and then to Number 1 for two weeks, the following two weeks, then down to Number 2 by a very few copies and then back to Number 1 this week. I cannot describe the excitement when my publishers Transworld or my agent, Vivienne Schuster rings me on the Tuesday afternoon when the lists are published to tell me the latest score. I’d just like to thank all the thousands and thousands of people who have bought Wicked! it really has been such a joy and a buzz for me.

Monty and Me
montys glory
Me and Monty. Who unfortunately had a bad fall whilst racing at Worcester this month.
My friend Judy Zatonski, took this enchanting photograph of her dog Jerry accepting an ice cream from two little friends.
All of July's Latest News

Once again I am so sorry for failing to continue my website. The last time I wrote to you, it was with joyous news of our beautiful horse, Monty’s Salvo’s triumph at Worcester: which you can see illustrated in Les Hurley’s lovely photograph.

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Monty and Me
montys glory
Me and Monty. The racehorse i have a share in with 11 other people.
Monty's moment of glory.

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Happy Christmas Everybody


All of April's Latest News

Now it is nearly May, as you can see from this lovely calendar that my friend Judy Zatonski made for me, which is one of my great joys, because there is a different picture every month of my greyhound Feather.  (See image right)

I hope you are all well and I’m sorry, as usual, that I am late with my website. I don’t quite know where the last four months have gone, but I’ve been doing lots of research for Village Horse. In January I spent a lovely day at Cheltenham as the guest of Irish bookmakers, Bet Chronicle who had flown a very joyful and happy party of racing enthusiasts over from Dublin for the day. I got 3 winners and as no one knows quite how to party like the Irish, we all had a ball. No one quite knows how to party like the Irish, so it was a gorgeous day.

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Feather - May
The Browns, with whom i met recently
  at a party in Downing Street.
My lovely calendar which features a different picture of Feather for every month.
The Browns, with whom i met recently at a party in Downing Street.
The fifteen beauty queens.


As I am trying to be good and getting my website together, I’m making another video in the next couple of weeks to bring things completely up to date but in the meantime, here is another little taster.
On May 2nd I’m going to Fontwell Racecourse to judge a Miss West Sussex competition which is an early qualifier for Miss England. I’m very excited because I’ve never been to Fontwell Racecourse and also one of my fellow judges is my friend, Richard Dunwoody and in between gazing at beautiful girls I will be picking his brains about various aspects of National Hunt racing for Village Horse, which is the novel I’m writing at the moment. 

The only other time I judged a beauty contest was Miss United Kingdom, back in 1973.  Below is the piece in the Sunday Times which I wrote about the experience.  I’m horrified what a bitch I was in those days but I do think aspects of the story are quite funny.  I hope you enjoy it.


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