The things Burnley author Tony Bell has experienced in his remarkable life are almost beyond belief. Now he's written a book telling the tale of his extraordinary childhood.

WHEN it comes to bedtime story-telling Tony Bell must surely be the best granddad ever, with endless tales of arduous journeys, foreign cultures and crushing hardship to call upon.

Orphaned, shipped out of Britain and raised by an African tribe, Tony had more adventure and upheaval in his early life than most of us have in a lifetime.

Now the author, of Woodbine Gardens, has put pen to paper to capture the amazing memories of youth in a new book, "A Child's Odyssey".

After both his parents died in World War II, Tony was sent to Africa to live with an uncle.

But when he arrived at the farm on the Zimbabwe/Namibia border his uncle had left for Britain to join the Air Force and Tony was taken under the wing of the local tribespeople who had worked on the farm.

"I was the only white person for 80 miles but as a child you soon adapt to whatever influences are around you," said Tony.

"Chief taught me a lot. He taught me to respect my fellow man. Just because he doesn't wear shoes doesn't mean he's a dum dum,' he would say.

"I also learnt to have respect for the earth and to never take more than I need. Chief would say: Earth is your mother, how can you own your mother?'"

But Tony's idyllic childhood in Africa was to come to an abrupt end when in 1947, six years after he arrived, the white authorities - appalled that he had been living with a tribe - sent him home.

"I was devastated," said Tony. "Tribal culture was my life and I loved the tribe dearly. The authorities caught me in a net - it was the only way they could catch me."

And things went from bad to worse - Tony's first impressions of East Lancashire were not good.

"I will never forget the first time I saw Burnley," he said. "It was just before Christmas and I got off the bus from Manchester with a suitcase and I went into a hotel. It was cold and drab. like a black and white photograph with no colour.

"When I first arrived back I didn't speak the same language so I couldn't express myself. I had lessons for two years to re-learn English."

And after an unhappy time in East Lancashire Tony managed to return to Africa via the Pennine moors in 1948.

"I was away for about two weeks on the moors. I drank from milk urns and I killed a sheep for food and clothing," he said.

When he was found he was placed in a special school in Stockport but he didn't stay there long, and, during a school trip to the docks as a teenager, he climbed aboard a tramp steamer to South Africa.

Forty years later he felt ready to return to Burnley where he has remained.

Tony says the principles he learnt during his tribal upbringing have remained with him, and he believes his ability to tell a tale comes from the nightly story-telling sessions held around the campfire by chief.

"The problem is white man is greedy, we want to take other people's things," said Tony.

"I have had to rely on myself in hideous situations physical, psychological, social, political. But I know I can rely on myself and survive," he said.

"The best way to find out how strong you are is to sink as low as you can go - any further down and you will die.

"I believe I'm the happiest man in the world -my experiences have taught me not to take problems on board. If I can't solve something I don't worry about it. As a child I had to look on the bright side of things, I had to, and I have never stopped."

l A Child's Odyssey by Tony Bell is published by Nu-Age Press and costs £6.99. For copies call 01282 413373.