Thomas Noel Flanagan was born on December 10, 1947. He was apprenticed to Herbert Smyth at Epsom and rode his first winner on Seymour, who made all to win a seven furlong apprentice race at Newbury on May 21, 1966. That was to be his sole success on the Flat.He took out a jump jockey’s licence and rode his first winner in that sphere on a four-year-old hurdler named March Hare, also at Newbury, on March 5, 1971.

Ironically, it was at that same Newbury fixture four years later, on the first day of March 1975, that his career was almost ended by a fall from novice chaser My Captain. Noel broke two vertebrae and reckoned he owed his life to the back pads that cushioned his tumble. He actually drove home to Epsom after the Newbury spill but it was later found that he also had a cracked pelvis. At the time of the fall he had ridden ten winners, his most successful season so far.

Noel hoped to be passed fit for the start of the 1975/76 campaign but had still not fully recovered from his injuries so his comeback was delayed until October. He rode just one more winner before his season again ended prematurely with a fall from Royal Rondo at Huntingdon on Easter Monday, April 19, 1976.

He applied for his licence at the start of the 1976/77 season but his application was turned down by the Jockey Club on medical grounds. He was informed he was suffering from spondulosis, which affected the base of the spine, a legacy of the Newbury fall. He visited five specialists and nine doctors about the injury but the consensus was that his career in the saddle was over at the age of 28.

Noel Flanagan died on 4 October, 2013, aged 65.

His funeral took place at Randalls Park Crematorium, Leatherhead, on October 22.