THIS book tells of ordinary lives shattered by war.

It is based mostly on 200 interviews conducted over 27 years by the author, a West Midlands journalist, and includes a poignant chapter on Leslie Shaw, a Sedbergh School pupil who was killed at the Battle of Loos in 1915.

Wolverhampton-based Mr Rhodes also reveals how he experienced conflict at first hand after being sent by his paper, the Express & Star, to the Falklands, Sarajevo, Vietnam and the Gulf.

He says: “Journalism is the first draft of history, and usually has a shorter shelf-life than a loaf of bread.”

Captivating.

FOR A SHILLING A DAY, Peter Rhodes, Bank House Books.