An author has discussed how going back to school to do an A-Level at the age of 60 helped him write his first book.

Ian Porter has written ‘A Countryman's Tales of Yesteryear,’ which detail his life growing up and working as a young man in Test Valley in the 1960s.

He first got the idea after having a hip operation, at which time he says he was “bored out of [his] skull.” After reading all the books he’d got to read while recovering, he decided to turn his hand to writing something of his own.

“I’d always been interested in the countryside, so I started to write a little memoir for my grandchildren,” he told the Advertiser, “and it just developed from there.”

“Then I decided that having never been educated in my life, I would do a College course at the age of 60.”

Ian went to Salisbury College, where he says he was the oldest one there “by quite some time, and quite a lot older than the tutor.” Despite the age gap, he says that he got on very well with his tutor, Sue, who he said was “fantastic,” and has stayed friends with a lot of the students on the course.

“It was a piece of cake!” he said. “I realised that I had no education as such but I had read a lot. I was very fond of reading.”

As part of his work, he decided to submit the first part of his burgeoning book for his A-Level, receiving an A for his efforts. Having read it, Ian’s grandchildren persuaded him to carry on, branching his writing from his school life into his early working days. This led to a creative writing course at Winchester College’s Warminster branch.

“That was good,” he said. “I enjoyed that and learnt a lot.”

His book details his time living on a farm in Cottonworth, where he started his career by cycling into Andover to work. However, his first foray into the world of business was short lived.

“I started work at a printing firm at 8 o’clock on a Monday,” he said, “and finished work at 10 o’clock on a Monday. Problem is, it was the same Monday!”

He then got a job at the local garage, where he also didn’t last too long.

“When I worked in the garage,” he said, “I blew the glasses off of the poor guy I was sent to work with using the air line.”

“He bumped his head on the bonnet and was still recovering from that when I dumped a 5 gallon tank of underseal through the roof and covered him in it! He never spoke to me afterwards.”

As well as personal tales, he says that it also has a lot of standalone stories, such as the unusual way two women in Hurstbourne Tarrant settled a pub dispute. “The stories are unembroidered, but put in the best light,” he said. “They all have humour attached to them.”

Though this book ends in 1967, when Ian moved away to London, he’s “definitely” going to write another book.

“I’m messing about with two at the moment,” he said. “One’s a comedy crime caper set in Miss Marple’s village. I also do a lot of photography, so another is a humorous take on the characters you meet. I’ve got to disguise them enough not to be sued!”

Ian Porter’s book, A Countryman's Tales of Yesteryear, is available through Amazon.