A STAND-UP comedian who travelled thousands of miles to uncover some of history's most famous stories has released a new book.

John Martin, who lives in Appleton, has been fascinated with military history since an early age and decided to swap the stage for behind-the-scenes as he embarked upon a mission to share this passion with others.

The professional comedian said: "I'm a stand-up comedian and I've done that for 35 years.

"I used to write for the likes of Ken Dodd and Jimmy Tarbuck.

"Outside of that, I have a passion for history and military history and I have just written a new book called Ambushed- it is different ambushes in history.

"I have picked six but there could have been 26!"

Amazon describes the book as: "Six different bloody chapters in history - murders, killings, ambushes are written about.

"The book, though small, has colour and black and white pictures throughout and was clearly compiled with passion."

The book focuses upon the extraordinary stories of Ruth Ellis, George Armstrong Custer, John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Reinhard Heydrich and John Wilkes Booth.

Before writing the book, which John says took about 12 months, he travelled to Prague and America to thoroughly research these snapshots of history.

The 55-year-old said: "I had to go to America because you have to go to the places where these things happened.

"It's almost like planting a seed and watching it grow."

Originally from Liverpool, John moved to Appleton 18 months ago and performs comedy on cruise ships and across the country.

He has also written a book solely on the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, entitled, The Mirror Caught the Sun: Operation Anthropoid 1942.

This, and his newest endeavour, can be bought by visiting Amazon.co.uk.