'In 1954, when I was only 16, I went straight from school in Barnard Castle to Captain Neville Crump's yard, initially on a week's trial. Things worked well and I stayed to serve my four-year apprenticeship at Warwick House, where Mark Johnston is now based.

Things were different in those days. When you were told to do something, you were only told to do it once. I always lived in terrific trepidation of Captain Crump. He was a very loud man, a lovely man, the most loyal man I could ever dream of in the end. When he shouted, the whole of Middleham Castle shook.

He would keep our morale up by riding out with us on to the moor every day, even in the winter and, in those days; the winters were a lot worse than they are today.

My first experience of the Grand National was at the age of 21, when I rode a mare called Surprise Packet, not one of Captain Crump's horses, but a 'spare' who had been privately permit-trained in Scotland. I had never seen the animal before I walked into the paddock on race day.

When the gate went up, I gave her a good kick in the belly and I found myself in front. She was a brilliant jumper and, as we came over the Bechers first time, then the Canal Turn, she was going well.

We jumped the water and she was cantering, running away, then she made her only mistake when she fell at Bechers Brook the second time round. I suppose it was lack of experience on my part. She went absolutely perpendicular, turned straight over and damaged herself a little bit. She wasn't put down, but she couldn't race again. Luckily, I escaped unhurt.

The following year, I rode in the Grand National on Merryman II, a horse on which I had already won the Scottish Grand National. He was owned by Miss Winifred Wallace, who had broken and trained him herself, as well riding him in point-to-point races.

It was 1960 and the first time that the race had ever been televised live. It was also the last one over the old fences before they were modified. Fences were different in those days - there was no ground line, they were just straight up and down like brick walls and there was no apron to give a horse something to look at.

In those days, bookmakers used to give a price for a horse actually getting round. You could say that horsemen rode round Aintree, as opposed to jockeys round park tracks.

I was extremely fortunate to have ridden in this race, as only 12 days before I had broken my collar bone in two places after a horse fell on me at Doncaster. I had to make daily trips to a physiotherapist in Richmond who strapped me up tight so that I could still ride. Back then, we didn't have medical record books - you rode if you could stand.

Days before the Grand National, I was in agony and was beginning to doubt that I would be able to ride, although Captain Crump knew how badly I wanted to do so. The Gov'nor told me that, to be fair to the owners, the public and me, he wanted me to go before a panel of three doctors.

I managed to cringe through my back teeth and say that I was fine, although one of the doctors, an orthopaedic surgeon, saw right through me and declared it impossible for the bones to have mended in such a short space of time.

Fortunately, it was two against one, so I was allowed to ride, strapped from my neck to my waist. Merryman II was such a brilliant jumper, but he had to be held up - he had to come from behind. The first circuit, we paddled round quietly and his jumping was quite unbelievable.

At about eight to 10 strides from every fence, his little ears were going ping, ping, ping and he gained two or three lengths at every fence. When I got to Bechers for the second time, he did make a mistake, but because he was such a clever horse he got out of trouble and held on to me as well.

By the time we got to the run in, the stands were erupting and he could hear them all right. We passed the Water Jump and I thought of the Queen Mother's ill-fated horse Devon Loch, who collapsed and died when he was on his way to winning the Grand National, so I just cracked Merryman down the neck to keep him up to it.

Everyone was thrilled when we won, especially by 15 lengths, which is quite a large margin, although there was no celebration in Liverpool that night as we went home. We had a party at the Bolton Arms in Leyburn a couple of weeks later when things had settled down.

In only a matter of days, the cream of racing's finest will gather at Aintree, united in their mercurial quest for victory. As final preparations for the world's most illustrious steeplechase are under way, Northern Horse takes a closer look at this legendary event.

We talked to Gerry Scott, who experienced the sheer elation of being first past the post on Merryman II in 1960. Although more than 40 years has elapsed since that day, Aintree will always hold a special place in Gerry's heart for the time he raced across the turf as a jockey and the many years he spent as a Jockey Club starter, 20 of them specifically involved with the Grand National.

Gerry, 67, was a jockey for famous Middleham trainer Captain Neville Crump, who had three Grand National winners - Sheila's Cottage (1948), Teal (1952) and Merryman II (1960). Gerry is the only person in history to have both ridden and started a Grand National winner.

"Aintree is a wonderful place for me - there's just something about it," he said. "As a starter, I could go to the smallest meet they have and I would only have to walk on the turf and it lifts me completely."

Today, Gerry and his wife, Avril, live in their beautiful country home not far from Middleham, where he spent his days as a jockey. The Scotts will be making their annual pilgrimage to this year's Grand National, cheering on any Northern pretenders to the crown, perhaps drinking a toast to his loyal mentor, Captain Crump, who died in 1987.

Published: 01/04/2005