Score!

My friends as usual came up with endless ideas. They include Teddy Chad, Vanessa Calthorpe, Flavia Cooper, Val Hennessey, Huw Humphreys, Annabel Dinsdale, Richard Stilgoe, Graham Ogilvie, Harriet Capaldi, Godfrey Smith and his grandson, Max Cordell-Smith, Louise Naylor, Michael Cordy, Simon Craker, Marjorie and Peter Hendy, Jill Reay, Lizzy Moyle, Rowena Luard, Sarah King, Claire Williams, James and Georgie Carter, Maurice Leonard, Maria Prendergast, Philip Jones, Rob and Sharon Morgan. Alistair Horne and General Sir Peter Davies were brilliant on French soldiering; Peter Davies, the art writer, on French painters; Micky Suffolk on helicopters. Andrew Parker Bowles, Charlie Mann, Charlie Brooks on racing, Astrid St Aubyn and Zahra Hanbury on ghosts, my doctors Graham Hall and Pat Pearson and their staff at Frithwood surgery on medical matters and our vet, dear John Hunter, on animals.

Animals play a hugely important part in Score!, particularly the heroine’s dog, James, who is based on a shaggy red rescued lurcher of the same name, the adored pet of Alan Little of Gardners. No-one else in the book, however, is based on anyone, unless they are so famous — as David Mellor and Nigel Dempster are — that they appear as themselves. Score! I must emphasize is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to any living person or organization is purely coincidental.

I wish I had space to thank everyone who helped me. Those named were usually experts in their own field, but I took their advice only as far as it suited my plot, which in no way reflects on their expertise.

I am extremely grateful to Transworld for publishing Score! and to Broo Doherty for working so hard to edit it; to Neil Gower for drawing such a beautiful map; and to my agent Desmond Elliott and his assistant Douglas Kean for all their support and kindness. I’d also like to thank Jo Xuereb-Brennan, who provided marvellous advice when cuts in the original manuscript were asked for.

The real heroines of Score!, however, are my five friends, Pippa Birch, Annette Xuereb-Brennan, Anna Gibbs-Kennett, Mandy Williams and Caterina Krucker, who typed the huge manuscript in all its endless drafts and rewrites. I cannot thank them enough for their enthusiasm, industry and advice on everything from polo backhands to pregnancy kits.

I must especially thank my dear PA, Pippa Birch, for looking after me so beautifully, and my cleaner, Ann Mills, to whom Score! is dedicated, who has restored our house to order for the last fifteen years and is simply one of the nicest people I know.

The lion’s share of my gratitude as usual goes to my husband Leo, my children Felix and Emily, and my dogs, Hero and Bessie, who have put up with murder, literally, for the last three years, and have been constantly comforting and inspiring.