Sir Rupert Mackeson, 2nd Baronet

Sir Rupert Mackeson, 2nd Baronet (born 16 November 1941) is a British author, previously a soldier and smuggler.

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, Trinity College, Dublin and Sandhurst.

Career

After serving four years in the Royal Horse Guards, Mackeson went into the City of London. There he was connected with Mafia activities and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He fled to Rhodesia and became a smuggler. After Ian Smith agreed to return him to the UK, he was arrested but escaped from a British Airways airliner while it was on the ground in South Africa.

Since returning to England in the 1990s, 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.

Books as Rupert Mackeson

*"Great Racing Gambles and Frauds"
*"Flat Racing Scams and Scandals" (Metro Publishing, 2004) ISBN 9781843580423
*"Bet Like a Man" (Eye Ltd, Bridgnorth, 2001) ISBN 1903070139

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)

Trivia

*In 1979, a Scotland Yard spokesman said "Sir Rupert Mackeson is number seven on the ten most wanted men list. He has caused us more trouble than anyone other than Ronnie Biggs."

*In 2003, the Daily Telegraph was forced to publish a grovelling apology to Mackeson after printing an untrue story about a painting by Alfred Munnings and an alleged incident on Epsom racecourse.

*He has commented on his troubles in the 1970s - "I didn't particularly want to be found swinging from Blackfriars Bridge so I disappeared to Africa. Before I do write my autobiography, I still need one person from that operation to die so I can name names."

References

*Kidd, Charles, and Williamson, David (editors): "Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage" (1990 edition) (New York: St Martin's Press, 1990)
* [http://www.travellerseye.com/authorView.asp?ID_=37 Rupert Mackeson at Eye Books]
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2001/12/06/shdiar07.xml Racing Diary: Mackeson, a man of many parts]
* [http://www.angeltowns.com/town/peerage/baronetsm1.htm The Baronetage at angeltowns.com]
*"R. v. Sir Rupert Mackeson (extradition)"