Age was no deterrent for Royston Herbert, from Buchan Road, who has always had a keen interest in reading and writing, but had never attempted such a major project.

His book The Lifer – a fictional detective thriller set during and after World War II – has taken several years to write, and draws on his own childhood experiences as a wartime evacuee.

Mr Herbert, who worked for a publishing firm and the Rank Xerox company before his retirement, said: "I've written all my life, starting off as a small boy when I was evacuated to Tiverton in Devon. We had the countryside as our playground, but there wasn't much else to do besides reading and writing. I used to devour every book I could get my hands on."

In the years following the war, Mr Herbert continued to develop his passion, dabbling with poetry and short stories, as well as drawing cartoons for magazines. As an employee of Rank Xerox he had worked as a technical author, writing documentation and user manuals.

Although Mr Herbert has written hundreds of poems, and was featured in an edition of Poetry Now magazine, it was short story writing that gave him the confidence to tackle his first full book.

He encouraged other would-be writers to follow in his footsteps, no matter their age: "My advice would be to just stick at it. If you've got something to say, carry on and take it to its conclusion."

Mr Herbert lives with his wife Margaret, and has a daughter who lives in Bath and a son in Aylesbury. He is now busy researching a second novel, based on travels in Devon.

The Lifer is available from publishers Pneuma Springs at www.pneumasprings.co.uk, as well as from online retailers including Amazon, W H Smith and Blackwell.