initiated negotiations with Lord Sefton to have this covenant put aside so that the land could be sold for housing development. Over the next nine years this led to court cases, possible sales and repeated assertions that each Grand National would be 'the last at Aintree'. Although the covenant was upheld by the lower courts, an appeal to the House of Lords ruled in Topham Ltd's favour in 1966. Aintree was finally sold to the Walton Group owned by property developer William Davies in 1973. However, planning permission for new housing was never granted. The land remained a racecourse where the Grand National continues to be held. Mirabel Topham was a patron of the arts and benefactor of the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. In 1949 she introduced an annual silversmithing competition to design and create the silver Topham Trophy. A television programme about her was shown nationally on BBC1 in 1972. In 1973 she allowed filming at Aintree for Dead Cert (based on a Dick Francis novel) that starred Judi Dench and Michael Williams. Later life She had extensive contacts and a social life with the sports and media world. For example, she was godmother to Amanda, the eldest daughter of Peter Dimmock, one of the BBC's first sports broadcasters and later a senior executive. Following the sale of the racecourse she continued to live at Paddock Lodge for the rest of her life. She also owned a house in Regent's Park, London and a holiday home on the Isle of Wight. She died at home of cancer on 29 May 1980 aged 88 and is buried in the Topham family vault in the Catholic monastery at Pantasaph in North Wales. References 1891 births 1980 deaths Aintree Racecourse