It was an odd world or so it seemed to me — glamorous, louche and heartless. Everyone was mad about racing, which meant horseracing, and most of them were owners and breeders (of horses, I mean). I often used to think I was rather a disappointment to my dear late father-in-law, because I was not a filly, which would have been much more interesting for him.
Most of the people in that world were upper-class or gentlefolk and many of them used to do a lot of fratting with the royal family on and off the racecourse including, notably, Derek Parker Bowles. He was hospitable to various of them and was a particular admirer of the Queen Mother.
In that world drink flowed astonishingly freely,