Local newspaper archives and libraries are a great source of information and research material for student and writers – but some hard work in the Chesterfield office of the Derbyshire Times is about to pay off for Maxwell Murray.

The Times reported that Mr Murray, a former railway worker, ploughed his £5,000 redundancy pay into publishing a book and is now hoping to see it hit the big screen.

After knock-backs from more than 30 publishers, Mr Murray decided to go it alone and published his fictional tale of sex, drugs and northern soul himself.

It is called Crackin’ Up and Mr Murray researched it through the archives of his local weekly newspaper.

The story is set in 1971 and has now been picked up by Sheffield-based Main Man productions, who made the hit film When Saturday Comes. They hope to start filming later this year.

Do you have a story for us?
Ring the HoldTheFrontPage newsdesk on
01332 291111 x6022, or to e-mail us now – click here