WRITER and broadcaster Graham Fisher MBE has been celebrating the success of his latest book which brings together musings about life in his native Black Country and on the Welsh border which he now calls home.

Tales From the Barn is based on Graham's popular series of Black Country Radio podcasts, which have been brought together to create a lavishly illustrated full colour book by Sparrow Publishing.

Taking inspiration from his broadcasting hero Allister Cooke’s Letter From America - Graham, aged 65, who has lived a rural life for the last seven years, has sought to contrast the people, places and events in and around his new home on the Welsh border compared those of his native Black Country.

Graham's 10th book under the Sparrow Publishing banner - the book is a medley of acute observations, touching on topics including the author's established specialties of inland waterways and crystal glass plus geology, crime fiction, ley lines, industrial archaeology, ecology and climate change, sport, language, the Norman Conquest, World War II heroes and more.

He said: "In helping articulate the nuances of two regions and its peoples close to my heart I have been greatly impressed by the striking correlations between my beloved Black Country and my adopted home."

Dr Malcolm Dick OBE, School of History and Cultures at the University of Birmingham, who wrote the foreword, describes the book as "one of Graham’s most engaging and wide-ranging" and Blackheath-born Graham himself said: "It's one of the sweetest books I've ever written. It's given me a lot of pleasure to do it. I'm very happy about the way it's turned out."

The book, which will appeal to "anyone with an interest in local history and lifestyles of people in the Black Country and Welsh borders", has been "selling really well", he added, and it is available to buy from venues in Stourbridge's Glass Quarter, Richard Booth's Bookshop (Hay-on-Wye) and Carrot and Wine Stores (Whitney-on-Wye), priced £15.

Alternatively it can be bought directly from the author (plus £2.50 p&p) via the website grahamfisher.co.uk. Copies can be signed at no extra cost.

A contribution from sales will be made to the British Glass Foundation of which Graham is a trustee.

The Tales from the Barn podcasts are available to listen to online at blackcountryradio.co.uk/onair/podcasts/tales-from-the-barn.

Meanwhile - Graham's 2019 Christmas Special on Black Country Radio will be aired this Thursday (December 12).

'The Carol and Noel antidote to Christmas' starts at 9pm and comprises "an hour of songs by people called Carol and Noel which have nothing to do with Christmas".

Those who miss it live can catch it on the radio station's 'listen again' feature.