ACCLAIMED journalist and author – and ambassador for St Helens – Charles Nevin has written a collection of short stories capturing the 20th Century.

So Last Century is a series of humorous short stories set in each decade from 1900 to 2000.

Charles’ previous books include Lancashire, Where Women Die of Love and So Long Our Home, a history of Knowsley Road – the latter written with Alex Service.

In this run through ten decades General Haig, Noël Coward, Butch Cassidy, Margaret Thatcher’s bloomers and a racehorse strongly resembling Shergar are all featured in a collection of astute and witty stories from the award-winning journalist and author.

So Last Century begins with Edward VII on a tricky country house visit and ends with one of the first national lottery winners struggling with fame, fortune and romance.

On the way you’ll meet music hall entertainers in the First World War and two remarkable double agents in the Second, get raided in a 1920s London night club, take part in some lively coronation celebrations, and discover what really might have happened when the World Cup was stolen in 1966.

Charles Nevin has written for the Guardian, the Independent on Sunday, the Daily Telegraph, The Times, the Sunday Times, the New York Times and many others. So Last Century follows the success of Sometimes In Bath, featuring his acclaimed stories set throughout the city’s extraordinary history.

Charles says, “I turned to fiction after a successful career in journalism, and found that the genre which best drew on my skills and experience was the comic short story mingling real characters and settings with fictional adventures.

“My previous two collections, ‘Lost in the Wash with Other Things’, and ‘Sometimes In Bath’, took this approach further by following each story with an afterword separating the fact from the fiction and giving the historical background.

“After much thought about where I could take this idea next, I realised the answer was right behind me: the last, extraordinary century. Thus ‘So Last Century’, my best yet.”

So Last Century is available at the St Helens Book Stop in Bridge Street, priced £9.99.