It’s many people’s dream to have their own book published.
And now, Len Hall, a former maths teacher from Fochabers, has taken his first foray into the literary world.
Nothing unusual about that, you might think – but Mr Hall just happens to be 91.
Yesterday, the north-east author joked that he wanted to release his first book, A Mare’s Tail, while he was still young – and added he had not ruled out the possibility of working on another project in the future.
He said: “It more or less just happened. I toodled away with it for long enough and kept phoning around looking for a publisher.
“Since then, it has moved on rapidly. I had a nice team around me who helped with things like the computer, which, although I’m reasonably good at, I struggle with.
“Everybody keeps joking with me that I’ll end up writing a series like Harry Potter, but I don’t think it will be anything like that.”
Yet who knows? His fascinating story follows a milk-float horse which turns out to be more than just an ordinary jobbing mare.
And, after beginning his story in fictional communities in Moray, the book follows the horse all across the globe.
Despite the nonagenarian’s advancing years, he spent myriad hours at his computer detailing the movements of the animal and the people it encounters.
Mr Hall explained: “The story came to me fairly recently. I’ve written small stories about interesting characters in the community for the newspapers and I just changed some of the details for this.”
In a career that began in Ellon before he moved on to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Peterborough, Mr Hall also taught physics and mathematics to RAF personnel at Moray College.
As he remarked: “I wanted to write a book while I was still young enough. I used to do a bit of writing for newspapers and magazines when I lived in Edinburgh.”
It seems this particular mare’s tail is no dark horse for literary success.
The book is available to buy from J and J Publishing by phoning 01343 850123.