Tony Larcombe's book series ‘The Zoo at Kathmandu’

Tony Larcombe, 60, began publishing stories after leaving his job working for a large corporation due to suffering a stroke in 2020.

The children’s books were inspired by years of his own childhood, bringing up his own children, and even listening to the radio.

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He said: “I love stories, I’ve always liked them, right from when they were read to me when I was small - and I love funny stories. When my own two boys were growing up, sometimes I would read a story and I would go through and think: this is hard work, these stories are like chewing cardboard – I’m sure I can write something more engaging or interesting than this.

“I was sitting on the M25 at standstill, listening to Steve Wright, and there was a call in and people were talking about pet names and it gave me the idea – how many animals with names that rhyme with what they are can I think of?”

An extract from 'The Eagle and the Sausage Dog' (Image: Tony Larcombe)

His books, part of a series called ‘The Zoo at Kathmandu’ feature characters like ‘Noah the boa’, ‘Enola-Clare the polar bear’ and ‘Brian the lion’.

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His second book, Enola-Clare’s big Splash, has been choreographed and put to music by agent for change at Ballet Cymru Tonia Payne-Cheney, daughter of Tony’s lifelong friend Victoria. 

During recovery from his stroke, in which he lost half of his eyesight and had his driving license removed, he found painting and drawing difficult, so he learned how to use ProCreate to design digital art and illustrate his books himself.

Tony's work has even received a letter from Queen Camilla, after he sent her copies of his books.

He said: “I sent them across and then two weeks later, I had to sign for a letter and thought, what’s that? Then I saw ‘Clarence House’.

Tony received the letter just two weeks after he sent Queen Camilla copies of his books (Image: Tony Larcombe)

 “I opened it and it took a couple of days to sink in. When you see her waving at the crowd with King Charles, and then think, she’s taken the time to write to me – a short note maybe - but she’s done it, and I have great affection to her for that.”

He shares his stories and holds question and answer sessions at local schools, and his books are currently sold at The Rocketship Bookshop, Fisherton Mill and InExcess, with two published so far, and his third, ‘Noah’s Big Day Out’ to be published in the coming weeks.