Jilly Cooper

English author (born 1937)

For the badminton player, see Jillie Cooper.

Dame

Jilly Cooper

DBE

Cooper in 1974

Born| Jill Sallitt[1]
(1937-02-21) 21 February 1937 (age 88)
Hornchurch, Essex, England
Occupation| Author
Genre| Erotic, romance
Notable works| Rutshire Chronicles
Spouse|

Leo Cooper

(m. 1961; died 2013)​

[2]
Children| 2
Website
www.jillycooper.co.uk

Dame Jilly Cooper, DBE (born Jill Sallitt; 21 February 1937) is an English author. She began her career as a journalist and wrote numerous works of non-fiction before writing several romance novels, the first of which appeared in 1975. Cooper is most famous for writing the Rutshire Chronicles.

## Early life

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Jill Sallitt was born in Hornchurch, Essex, England, on 21 February 1937,[1] to Mary Elaine (née Whincup) and Brigadier W. B. Sallitt, OBE.[3] She grew up in Ilkley and Surrey, and was educated at the Moorfield School in Ilkley and Godolphin School in Salisbury.[3]

## Journalism and non-fiction

[edit]

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After unsuccessfully trying to begin a career in the British national press, Cooper became a junior reporter for The Middlesex Independent, based in Brentford. She worked for the paper from 1957 to 1959. Subsequently, she worked as an account executive, copywriter, publisher's reader and receptionist. Her break came with a chance meeting at a dinner party. The editor of The Sunday Times Magazine, Godfrey Smith, asked her to write a feature about her experiences.[4] This led to a column in which Cooper wrote about marriage, sex and housework. That column ran from 1969 to 1982, when she moved to The Mail on Sunday, where she worked for another five years.

Cooper's first column led to the publication of her first book, How to Stay Married, in 1969, and which was quickly followed by a guide to working life, How to Survive from Nine to Five, in 1970. Some of her journalism was collected into a single volume, Jolly Super, in 1971. The theme of class dominates much of her writing and her non-fiction (including Class itself), which is written from an explicitly upper-middle-class British perspective, with emphasis on the relationships between men and women, and matters of social class in contemporary Britain.

## Fiction

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As with her non-fiction works, Cooper draws heavily on her own point of view and experiences. For example, her own house is the model for Rupert Campbell-Black's. Both houses are very old, although his is larger;[5] her house overlooks a valley called Toadsmoor, while his overlooks a valley called the Frogsmore. She also draws on her love of animals:[6] dogs and horses feature heavily in her books. Woods, hills, fields, pastures and rivers feature frequently. Cooper has been called "the queen of the bonkbuster".[7] Cooper has described the research she undertakes for each novel as "like studying for an A-level".[8] Quoted in the Evening Standard in 1994, Cooper stated that she thought that product placement in literary works was acceptable, and discussed how she had received thank you gifts as a result of unsolicited mentions in her novels.[9]

### Romance series

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In 1975, Cooper published her first work of romantic fiction, Emily.[10] She was encouraged to write romantic fiction by the editor Desmond Elliott, who had read the short stories she had written previously for teenage magazines.[11] Cooper at the time was working in publicity for Harper Collins, Elliott commissioned her with a six-book contract, then he subsequently sold paperback rights to Corgi Books.[11] The novels then sold in the 100,000s.[11] The contract was for Cooper to publish a novel every six months.[12] In October 1993, seven years after Private Eye had pointed out the similarities, Cooper admitted that sections of Emily and Bella were plagiarised from The Dud Avocado (1958) by Elaine Dundy, but said that it was not deliberate.[13] Also in the series is the short story collection Lisa & Co; each story is based on some of Cooper's earliest writings for women's magazines in the 1960s.[14][15]

Octavia is one of Cooper's "name" books, which each bear a female character's name, and has been made into a television movie. It is set in Britain during the 1970s.[16] The broadcast ITV adaptation was produced with a screenplay that was written by Jonathan Harvey.[17]

### Riders and the Rutshire Chronicles

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Cooper's best-known works are her Rutshire novels. The first was Riders (1985), an international bestseller, and the first volume of Rutshire Chronicles. The first version of Riders was written by 1970, but shortly after Cooper had finished it, she took it with her into the West End of London and left the manuscript on a bus. The London Evening Standard put out an appeal, but it was never found. She was, she says, "devastated", and it took her more than a decade to start it again.[18]

Riders and the following books, including Rivals, Polo, The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous and Appassionata, feature intricate plots, multiple story lines and a large number of characters. The books are linked by recurring characters and sometimes overlap each other. The stories heavily feature sexual infidelity and general betrayal, melodramatic misunderstandings and emotions, money worries and domestic upheavals.[19]

Each book of the Rutshire Chronicles is set in a glamorous and wealthy milieu, such as show jumping[20] or classical music. These aspects are contrasted with details of the characters' domestic lives, which are often far from glamorous.

The novel Jump! was released in 2010.[21] It features characters from the Rutshire Chronicles in the world of National Hunt steeplechase racing, and tells the transformation of a mutilated horse (Mrs Wilkinson) into a successful racehorse.[21] After publication, it was revealed that Cooper had named a goat in the book (Chisolm) in order to hit back at the critic Anne Chisholm.[22]

### Children's books

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Cooper also wrote a series of children's books featuring the heroine Little Mabel.[23]

## Personal life

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In 1961, she married Leo Cooper, a publisher of military history books.[2] The couple had known each other since 1951 (when Jilly Sallitt was about 14 years old), although they did not marry until she was 24 and he was 27. The couple adopted two children.[24] They have five grandchildren.[25] In 1982, the couple left Putney, southwest London, for The Chantry, an old manor house in Gloucestershire.[2] The Coopers' marriage was greatly disrupted in 1990 when publisher Sarah Johnson revealed that she and Leo had had an affair for several years, though Jilly and Leo eventually reunited.[26][27]

Jilly Cooper was a passenger in one of the derailed carriages in the Ladbroke Grove rail crash of 1999, in which 31 people died,[24] and crawled through a window to escape. She later spoke of feeling that her "number was up" and of being absurdly concerned, due to shock, about a manuscript she had been carrying.

Leo Cooper was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2002. He died on 29 November 2013, at the age of 79.[2] In 2010, Cooper suffered a minor stroke.[28]

Cooper has stated that she is a football fan, and supported Leeds United when she lived in Yorkshire.[29] She is a Manchester City fan.[30] She is also a supporter of the Conservative Party.[31] Cooper was also in favour of the Iraq War.[32]

In 2018, Cooper said that because of the Me Too movement, young men and women no longer feel free to flirt with one another, and that she enjoys being the subject of wolf whistles.[33]

Cooper is an animal lover and has owned many dogs, in particular, retired greyhounds, including Feather and Bluebell.

## Honours and awards

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Cooper was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2004 Birthday Honours for services to literature, Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to literature and charity, and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to literature and charity.[34]

On 13 November 2009, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Gloucestershire at a ceremony in Gloucester Cathedral.[35] She is Honorary Doctor of Letters at Anglia Ruskin University.[36] In 2024, she was named Harper's Bazaar's Author of the Year.[37]

In 1997, local councillors in Ilkley (West Yorkshire) chose not to recognise Cooper with a street named in her honour.[38] Located on the site of the tennis courts of Ilkley Hall, where Cooper spent some of her childhood, the street was ultimately named after Thomas Maufe, who was awarded a Victoria Cross.[38]

## Activism

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Cooper has campaigned for the preservation of limestone grasslands in Gloucestershire with the Trust for Nature Conservation.[39]

## Film and television productions

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In 1971, Cooper created the comedy series It's Awfully Bad for Your Eyes, Darling, which featured Joanna Lumley and ran for one series.[40] In the 1980s she was a regular guest on the programme What's My Line?[41]

Television adaptations of Cooper's novels were produced for ITV and Disney+.

Apart from Octavia, other productions include the television mini-series The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, starring Hugh Bonneville, produced by Sarah Lawson; Riders;[42] and, in 2024, Rivals, starring David Tennant, Aidan Turner and Alex Hassell, produced by Eliza Mellor.

## Critical reception

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In How To Be a Heroine, Samantha Ellis described reading Cooper's novels as being "like joining a cult".[43]

## Racehorse

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A race horse was named after Cooper, but it had to be destroyed in 2024 after a racing accident.[44][45][46]

## List of works

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### Fiction

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#### The Rutshire Chronicles

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1. Riders (1985)
2. Rivals (1988; also known as Players)
3. Polo (1991)
4. The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous (1993)
5. Appassionata (1996)
6. Score! (1999)
7. Pandora (2002)
8. Wicked! (2006)
9. Jump! (2010)
10. Mount! (2016)
11. Tackle! (2023)

#### Romances

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1. Emily (1975)
2. Bella (1976)
3. Harriet (1976)
4. Octavia (1977)
5. Prudence (1978)
6. Imogen (1978)
7. Lisa & Co. (1981; first published as Love and Other Heartaches)

#### "Little Mabel" series

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1. Little Mabel (1980)
2. Little Mabel's Great Escape (1981)
3. Little Mabel Wins (1982)
4. Little Mabel Saves the Day (1985)

### Non-fiction

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* How to Stay Married (1969)
* How to Survive from Nine to Five (1970)
* Jolly Super (1971)
* Men and Super Men (1972)
* Jolly Super Too (1973)
* Women and Super Women (1974)
* Jolly Superlative (1975)
* Supermen and Superwomen (1976)
* Work and Wedlock (1977)
* Superjilly (1977)
* The British in Love (1979)
* Class: A View from Middle England (1979)
* Supercooper (1980)
* Violets and Vinegar: An Anthology of Women's Writings and Sayings (1980)
* Intelligent and Loyal (1981)
* Jolly Marsupial (1982)
* Animals in War (1983)
* The Common Years (1984)
* On Rugby (1984; with Leo Cooper)
* On Cricket (1985; with Leo Cooper)
* Hotfoot to Zabriskie Point (1985; with Patrick Lichfield)
* Horse Mania! (1986)
* How to Survive Christmas (1986)
* Turn Right at the Spotted Dog (1987)
* Angels Rush In (1990)
* Between the Covers (2020)[47]

## References

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1. ^ a b "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
2. ^ a b c d Obituary: Leo Cooper, The Daily Telegraph, 2 December 2013.
3. ^ a b "Biography with magazine quotations". Archived from the original on 21 February 2008. Retrieved 27 August 2004.
4. ^ Rose, Hilary (24 October 2020). "Between the Covers: The World According to Jilly Cooper". The Times.
5. ^ Harrison, Bernice (25 May 2013). "Jilly the filly buster". The Irish Times.
6. ^ "Jilly Cooper loved Hay so much she wants to base her next novel in Wales". Hay Festival. 31 May 2018.
7. ^ Moses, Claire (17 October 2024). "Jilly Cooper on Adapting Her Naughty Romance, 'Rivals,' for Disney+". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 January 2025.
8. ^ Matthews, Rachel (15 February 2020). "Mount! author Jilly Cooper: 'When I was younger, I ricocheted from one unsuitable man to another'". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 15 February 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
9. ^ Fendley, Alison (9 March 1994). "And, after the break, Chapter Four..." Evening Standard. p. 191. Retrieved 7 July 2025.
10. ^ "Salutes to her". Evening Standard. 30 December 1975. p. 15.
11. ^ a b c "Desmond Elliott". The Daily Telegraph. 30 August 2003. p. 29. Retrieved 22 June 2025.
12. ^ King, Francis (16 November 1975). "Jungle warfare in the block". Sunday Telegraph. p. 14. Retrieved 22 June 2025.
13. ^ Boggan, Steve (26 October 1993). "Jilly falls at old hurdle". The Independent.
14. ^ Cooper, Jilly (2005). "Introduction". Lisa & Co (PDF). Corgi. p. 13.
15. ^ "Frothy romance". Manchester Evening News. 5 November 1981. p. 14. Retrieved 30 June 2025.
16. ^ Conlan, Tara (19 July 2007). "ITV rides high with Cooper". The Guardian.
17. ^ Coming Up Archived 28 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine thecustard.tv
18. ^ Day, Elizabeth (24 April 2011). "Jilly Cooper: 'I'm a reasonable writer but I'm much too colloquial'". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
19. ^ Loughrey, Clarisse (30 January 2019). "Jilly Cooper says #MeToo movement has 'diminished' men". The Independent. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
20. ^ "BBC Radio 4 – Radio 4 in Four – Why we all adore Jilly Cooper".
21. ^ a b Laing, Olivia (12 September 2010). "Jump! by Jilly Cooper". The Observer. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
22. ^ "Jilly Cooper takes revenge on critic by naming goat after her". The Daily Telegraph. London. 11 October 2010.
23. ^ "Jilly's Biography".
24. ^ a b Grice, Elizabeth (17 September 2010). "Jilly Cooper interview". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
25. ^ Barber, Richard (7 April 2017). "Jilly Cooper: 'My books are my babies'". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
26. ^ Barber, Michael (3 December 2013). "Leo Cooper obituary: Publisher of military history books and husband of Jilly Cooper". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
27. ^ Davies, Karin (2 September 1990). "Fiction into fact". UPI.
28. ^ Kennedy, Philippa (26 September 2010). "Jilly Cooper is still riding high". The National.
29. ^ "Jilly Cooper: why I will write just one more novel". Yorkshire Post. 25 October 2016 [8 October 2016]. Archived from the original on 4 May 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
30. ^ Glancy, Josh (28 July 2024). "Jilly Cooper: 'Upper classes are unbelievable, they just love sex'". The Times. Archived from the original on 28 July 2024. Retrieved 22 April 2025.
31. ^ "Women and gender in the Conservative party archive". 24 November 2015.
32. ^ Cooper, Jilly (16 February 2003). "Cover story: The voices for and against war". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
33. ^ Butterworth, Benjamin (29 July 2018). "Jilly Cooper says she loves being wolf-whistled as she criticises #MeToo movement". The i Paper. Retrieved 28 February 2025.
34. ^ "No. 64269". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2023. p. N9.
35. ^ University Announces Honorary Awards Archived 19 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine University of Gloucestershire
36. ^ "Jilly Cooper - ARU". www.aru.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
37. ^ "Jilly Cooper is our author of the year". Harper's BAZAAR. 5 December 2024. Retrieved 6 June 2025.
38. ^ a b Oldham, Nick (17 January 1997). "Jilly's Street? It's not such a novel idea". Telegraph and Argus. p. 3. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
39. ^ Clegg, Harry (24 June 1991). "Novelist is riding to rescue of wildlife heritage". The Citizen. p. 8. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
40. ^ "Jilly Cooper – About – Biography". jillycooper.co.uk.
41. ^ "You're a glamorous lot, says author Jilly ..." Western Daily Press. 22 February 1985. p. 7. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
42. ^ "Riders (1993)". Archived from the original on 21 September 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
43. ^ Ellis, Samantha (8 January 2015). How to Be a Heroine: Or, What I've Learned from Reading Too Much. Penguin Random House. p. 73\. ISBN 978-0-09-957556-6.
44. ^ "Jilly Cooper (IRE) | Race Record & Form | Racing Post". www.racingpost.com. Retrieved 22 June 2025.
45. ^ "Death information for Jilly Cooper (IRE) | Horse". www.horsedeathwatch.com. Retrieved 22 June 2025.
46. ^ "Jilly Cooper (IRE) | Horse Profile | Sky Sports Horse Racing". Sky Sports. Retrieved 22 June 2025.
47. ^ Cooke, Rachel (27 October 2020). "Between the Covers by Jilly Cooper review – as fresh as ever". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 August 2021.

## External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jilly Cooper.

* Jilly Cooper at IMDb
* Jilly Cooper at the British Film Institute
* Jilly Cooper The official Jilly Cooper website
* Biography with magazine quotations at the Wayback Machine (archived 21 February 2008) at 'SBillington.com'
* The queen of chick lit The Guardian, 15 June 2004 – Article about Cooper's writing
* Jilly Cooper An interview with Jilly recorded in 2000 by meettheauthor.co.uk

* v
* t
* e

Jilly Cooper

Novels|

| Rutshire Chronicles|

* Riders
* Rivals
* Polo
* The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous
* Appassionata
* Score!
* Pandora
* Wicked!
* Jump!
* Mount!
* Tackle!

|

Romance series|

* Harriet
* Octavia
* Prudence
* Imogen

Short stories|

* Lisa & Co

Non-fiction|

* How to Stay Married
* Class
* Animals in War

Adaptations|

* It's Awfully Bad for Your Eyes, Darling
* Riders
* The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous
* Rivals

Fictional characters|

* Rupert Campbell-Black

Related|

* Leo Cooper

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* FAST
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Japan
* Czech Republic
* Spain
* Netherlands
* Norway
* Latvia
* Poland
* Israel

Academics|

* CiNii

Artists|

* MusicBrainz

People|

* Trove

Other|

* IdRef
* Yale LUX

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