HANDWRITING expert Louis Samuel from Whitefield took a break from studying other people's jottings to pen a book for himself.

In England's Last Hope, Louis, of Richmond Close, takes a largely comic, but part serious look at life as a conscript during the era of national service.

The book, published this month, describes the background to national service and former Leeds lad Louis's call-up to the Royal Corps of Signals from 1956 to 1958.

It details rigorous training exercises and the tough disciplinary regime of those days, with anecdotes including how Louis caught and arrested the commander of his training camp in Catterick.

Louis found his superior testing out camp security and gave chase armed with a stick.

He said: "I was fitter then, and got the stick between his legs so he fell in the mud.

"He told me I had done well and that he was the commanding officer, but it was dark and I couldn't see his pass so I arrested him. They were speechless when I brought him in as a prisoner."

Although the book is peppered with amusing anecdotes, Louis also recollects the harsher aspects of a regime he was forced to live under for two years.

He said: "You were treated very badly because they wanted to break you down and achieve the result that you would obey every order.

"I wasn't to keen on that, especially at first, but it got better."

Louis, who now studies different individuals' handwriting as a profession, decided to write the book for reasons of posterity.

He said: "I kept telling people stories about what used to happen. Some of them were quite outrageous, and people were always saying that I should write a book.

"I also thought it would be nice for my grandchildren to see something that would be so remote to them otherwise."

"It is for people who have done national service who would empathise with the kind of things that happen, and also people who have never experienced it who might really enjoy the funny situations."

Copies of the book, priced £9.99 (including p&p), can be obtained from Finial Publishing, 15 Holbourne Road, Swanage, Dorset, BH19 2SL. Telephone 01929 423 980.