ON WINNING FORM JILLY COOPER ON TACKLING A NEW THEME, HER REAL LIFE INSPIRATIONS AND HER FRIENDSHIP WITH THE QUEEN

The mere mention of Jilly Cooper’s name provokes an amusing chain reaction: a knowing smile, a twinkle in the eye, flushed cheeks.

- SALLY MORGAN

As the unrivalled queen of romantic, racy fiction set in the imaginary county of Rutshire, she has been dreaming up bestsellers for decades, all of them with scandalous plots, shocking shenanigans and an assortment of handsome cads and bullish bounders from the posh polo set.

And as she exclusively invites us to join her and her five grandchildren at her 14thcentury home in the Cotswolds ahead of the launch of her latest novel, Tackle!, she tells us how she has swapped the polo field for the football pitch and showjumping champions for Premier League stars.

It was, Jilly tells us – as her grandsons Jago, 19, Lysander, 17, and Acer, 15, and granddaughters Scarlett, 14, and Sienna, 12, kick a ball around the lawn of her country garden – former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson who inspired her change of direction.

“I was looking for a new subject for my next book when I found myself sitting next to him at a lovely lunch,” she recalls. “He was so charming, funny, relaxed and gorgeous. After that, I just got going.”

NEW GOALS 

Setting her new novel in the world of football involved extensive research. For although Jilly had occasionally reported on football matches after leaving school to work on the Middlesex Independent – “one of my headlines was: ‘Oh Brentford, how could you!’” she giggles – she describes herself as a “football ignoramus”.