Ep 165 - Chris Pitt - Tim Brookshaw - The Man with the Iron Will

Tim Brookshaw, National Hunt champion jockey in 1958/59 was a remarkable man with an iron will. In this podcast I was joined by Chris Pitt, author, and racing historian whose latest book ‘Fearless’ covers the career and life of the Shropshire dairy farmer who is remembered for his incredible ride in the 1959 Grand National at Aintree. Regular guest of the podcast Richard Pitman, the former leading jockey and BBC TV racing presenter joins the show to give his expert views from the weighing room. In the 1959 Grand National Tim broke a stirrup after Becher’s Brook on the second circuit and subsequently completed the legendary course riding without stirrups on the Scottish horse Wyndburgh but still managed to come 2nd beaten only one and half lengths. However, Tim’s riding career is only part of the story. Despite breaking his back in a fall at Aintree which ended his career and left him paralyzed Tim achieved so much more. In less than a year he had won a Paralympic silver medal. He went on to walk again, continued to work on his farm, ride in a charity race and train horses. His fall, and a worse one by Paddy Farrell in the 1964 Grand National led to the start of a fund to help injured jockeys which eventually resulted in the formation of the Injured Jockeys Fund. Enjoy the inspiring story of Tim Brookshaw, the man with the iron will who as Chris said, “is an inspiration to anyone in adversity.” Fearless is available via Amazon or from the publishers New Generation Publishing.   Please subscribe to us on Amazon Music, Apple podcasts, Google, Soundcloud, Spotify or Stitcher. Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @ThePaddandPav             Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices