PUNK band The Sex Pistols and a book about a cuddly cat's adventures have something in common -- Accrington author Mick O'Shea. PAULINE HAWKINS finds out how he switched from writing about furious anarchists to furry animals.

MICK O'Shea is a married man with a steady job who lives in a beautifully presented terrace house on the outskirts of Accrington.

As he chats about his first children's book the creatures that fired his imagination, Persian cats Oscar and Sidney, wander in and gaze wide-eyed around the room.

Then, after an aloof surveillance of the living room, they are off, maybe on another adventure.

Mick will never know what they think, or even where they go when they leave the garden.

But his vivid imagination turned his prowling pets into animated characters in his book The Zootopia Tree -- which contains characters such as Nanna Goodwitch, evil witch Grezella and the dreaded Jugpaw.

But how does this relate to '70s punk anti-heroes The Sex Pistols? Angry rockers Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten are a far cry from the greevils and the chuggles, fantasy creatures in Mick's colourful paperback.

The story goes back to 1999, when Blackburn punks The Stiffs performed a one-off reunion gig in the town. Mick, of Church Lane, Altham West, acted as an unofficial roadie for the band in the early 1980s and decided to watch them play again.

There he met punk fanatic Alan Parker from Blackburn, co-author with Paul Burgess of a book about The Sex Pistols called Satellite.

Alan invited Mick to the launch of the book in London and their shared interest in the punk movement led to them becoming friends.

Because of his experience with bands -- he was in a band called Fly-By-Wire before he got married -- Mick came up with the idea of a manuscript about The Sex Pistols in which he would put words and conversations into the band members' mouths.

But even though the idea was met with enthusiasm by Alan and publisher Edward Christie, the project never got off the ground.

Time passed, and Mick turned his attention to writing a story about his cats for his wife Jakki as a memento of the fun times Oscar and Sidney had given them. But Jakki, who works for United Utilities in Preston, enjoyed Mick's writing so much he decided to see if he could get his work published. He took his manuscript to another meeting and left it with Edward, of Abstract Sounds Publishing, publishers of Alan's book Satellite, who said he would show it to nephews and nieces.

More time passed and, after another book launch in London, Mick was enjoying an Indian meal with Alan when he remarked he had heard nothing from Edward about The Zootopia Tree.

Mick said: "The next day I went straight to work from the train station. I came home, the telephone was ringing and it was Alan, saying he had had a meeting with Edward and he was going to go ahead with the kiddies' book."

Now Mick, who has worked as a team leader for Compass Finance in Rawtenstall since October, supervising telesales staff who deal with personal loans, is looking forward to "the glorious 12th" -- Monday, August 12, when The Zootopia Tree is finally published.

It's a personal triumph for Mick, who left school with one CSE in English and started work as a painter and decorator.

"The guy I worked for was a real hypochondriac who would drop us off and go home again.

"I was 16 years old and didn't know anything about painting and decorating," he said.

After that he worked for snooker table manufacturers Riley for 18 years and always harboured a dream to be a musician. But even though Fly-By-Wire came within a whisker of being signed by IRS Records, that ambition fell by the wayside.

"People came and went, and it just petered out," Mick said.

Depending on the success of The Zootopia Tree, which will be on sale in WH Smith and Waterstones bookstores, Mick has two more of "Oscar's Furry Tales" ready for publication.

They have already been read and enjoyed by friends, relatives and work colleagues and Mick's mum, Mrs Pat O'Shea, has enjoyed reading the story to her grandchildren.

"Mum is ecstatic about it," he said.

"Everyone who has read it likes it."

In the hope that The Zootopia Tree is a success, Mick has enlisted the help of two former members of Fly-By-Wire to come up with some music for a possible audio cassette version of the story.

Mick, who celebrates his 40th birthday on Monday, said: "It's ironic that it took the Stiffs' reunion gig in 1999 for this to happen.

"I am not a believer in fate as such, but when things like this happen you can't knock it."