THE mystery writer of the grim letter of forboding, penned in 1939 and recently discovered in a wall, has been solved, thanks to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

He was John Osbaldeston, an RAF rear gunner and former teacher.

Last week we revealed how builder Anthony Worden found the note as he knocked down a wall in a house next door to the Intack pub, Accrington Road, Blackburn.

It was written just weeks before the outbreak of the Second World War.

Mr Osbaldeston wrote about how Hitler was trying to gain 'world mastery' and ended by saying, "I pray that he has lost." His family told the Evening Telegraph that Mr Osbaldeston saw war service in the RAF.

He retired from St Augustine's RC High School, Billington, after 30 years as a teacher.

He was also a joiner, working for the old Lion Brewery in Blackburn.

Frank Gleave, of Queen's Road, Blackburn, said: "He was a very jolly man who had a great interest in history.

"He was my wife's uncle and everyone knew him as Uncle Jack. He came from a large family of eight brothers and one sister.

"We are delighted his letter has been found. It's just the sort of thing he used to do."

Mr Osbaldeston, who had three daughters and a son, died in 1992 following a stroke at an old peoples' home in Clitheroe.

The Telegraph has now passed on the letter to the family.

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