A freelance sub-editor has drawn on four decades of newspaper experience to publish his first novel.

Former regional press man Frank Rawlins, from Bicester near Oxford, has penned When it Comes to the Crunch – a comedy about three journalists growing old disgracefully.

He has also set up his own publishing firm, Huck Books, and is busily writing his second book.

Frank, (61), told holdthefrontpage: “It’s about an old-ish chap going through a late mid-life crisis who decides to grow old disgracefully.

“He teams up with some other people and invents a new device for targeting tailgating drivers.

“It flashes messages on the back of the car and distracts not only the tailgaters but other people around.

“It’s a bit of a bug bear and causes all sorts of problems.”

Frank’s 41-year career has seen him start as a trainee with the Stamford Mercury before working at the Peterborough Evening Telegraph and the Oxford Journal Group, eventually turning freelance in 1990.

Frank decided, after receiving rejection letters from publishers for earlier efforts, to set up his own firm to print the book.

“I started it up earlier this year,” he added.

“I’ve published just the one book so far and the second one is due out in February.

“It’s difficult as you have to pay for everything so I have done it on a print on demand basis.”

When it Comes to the Crunch is available through huckbooks.co.uk.