And now the nitty gritty (plus celeb angle)

The book is yours for a fiver, including packing and post. And that’s another story – the slightly unusual financing of my account of the Bath Blitz. One of its great claims to fame is that the first review of it was done in the Chronicle by a sub-editor friend. He is now better-known as Sir Terry Pratchett, creator of the wonderful Discworld stories, and so much else.

MW (standing) and TP (gazing raptly, with fierce beard) at M's leaving do from

the Chronicle. The situation is now, of course, reversed (apart from the beard).

Terry was complimentary but told readers that I would lose money on every copy sold, because I decided to charge only 45p, on the grounds that that was what my efforts were worth. The price has slowly risen as the book expanded, and I hope that I am not actually losing money these days. But I think you’ll find that you get a bargain, if you send off for a copy (or more…) by emailing me on martinswainwright@gmail.com. I’ll send off the order straight away and we can sort out payment after that.