A former journalist who went on to become the managing director of Trinity Mirror is publishing his first novel.

Mark Haysom, left, worked on local papers in the North of England in the 1970s before moving into management, rising to be MD of Trinity’s national newspaper titles between 2001 and 2003.

He left the industry in 2003 to become chief executive of the Learning and Skills Council, a post he held until 2009.

Now Mark has returned to his first love – writing – publishing a novel named after the Beatles classic Love Me Do.

“When I left university, I had this wonderfully naive idea that I would become a journalist and then, within a few years, a writer. At 20 years of age, I had it all mapped out,” he told the Leicester Mercury.

“The first part did come true. I started off as a trainee journalist in the north of England – but then life somehow got in the way.”

“After newspapers, I wanted to do something very different.  Moving into education, and working for six years for a succession of secretaries of state under Tony Blair and then Gordon Brown, was about as different as you could get.

“Finally, though, I made it. After a 40-year wait, I guess I’m living proof that it’s never too late. You should never let go of your dreams.”

Love, Love Me Do is set in Brighton and elsewhere in Sussex in 1963. It tells the story of a family forced to leave their home and live in a caravan in a forest clearing.

It is due to be published on July 31 by Piatkus, part of the Little, Brown Book Group.