A former regional press journalist who went on to write children’s TV programmes has had his second book published.

Michael Malaghan, a former Skegness Standard journalist, has written The Lost Prophecies as his second children’s novel which tells the story of another adventure for siblings Callie and Nick Latham, who featured in his first book Greek Ransom.

His latest book is based in Egypt and follows the siblings as they discover a 3,400-year-old hieroglyphic message written to them and are then kidnapped by an ancient sect.

Michael worked at the Skegness Standard from 1985 to 1989 and since then has spent ten years writing children’s TV programmes, including episodes of The Tweenies and Chucklevision.

Michael Malaghan is pictured with his new book.

He told the Standard: “It’s a far cry from my days chasing down headlines for The Skegness Standard, but certainly my four years as a reporter were a great investment in terms of piecing together fragments of story.

“I met fascinating and often inspiring people and got to do things I would never otherwise have done – like taking my dog to obedience training and then writing about it, visiting Wainfleet bombing range, having my fortune told by a tea leaf reader, acting as a judge in talent competitions, meeting several stars backstage at The Embassy and writing my own film columns.

“And do you know something, I think most of those experiences turned up in my later writing somewhere or other.”

The book is aimed at children aged nine to 12 and is published by Andersen Press. It is available from bookshops and Amazon.