AN EX-radio engineer with a creative spark has embarked on a full-time poetry career aged 90.

Lancashire Telegraph contributor and Blackburn resident Bill Austin has published his debut collection to encourage everyone to read verse.

Bill, who worked for Rediffusion Limited until he retired in 1987 and served as a wartime transmissions translator, first put pen to paper when at his sick wife Betty’s bedside 12 years ago.

He has now written more than 650 poems, some of which were printed in the Lancashire Telegraph’s Poets’ Corner.

They can also be found in doctors’ surgeries and other public places around the town.

It is the latest venture for Bill who is also an inventor.

Bill, who lives in Bute Road, said: “I’m not sure why I got into it. I was just doodling one day and a stray cat caught my imagination so I began to write about it for something to do. I’m quite eccentric anyway so like to try my hand at new things and people seemed to like what I wrote which was a bit unexpected.

“They encouraged me to keep going so I started to get some printed in the paper then handed others out in public places for everyone to have a read.

“I decided to finally publish some of them after re-reading them.” Called ‘If you Don’t Like Poetry Read This’ is published by Rethink Press Limited, and includes 70 of his favourite pieces.

To buy a copy, go to www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1781330840/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_k-xxsb1962P7C