A FLINTSHIRE resident who has travelled the world as a comedian, has written a new history book.

John Martin, originally from Liverpool but now living in Northop, is a stand up comedian who has travelled the world performing on top line cruise ships such as the Queen Mary 2.

He has also been a writer of jokes for such comedy giants as Sir Ken Dodd and Jimmy Tarbuck.

Locally, he has been a regular host for the annual Flintshire Business Awards and toured many times supporting the great Welsh comedian Max Boyce.

John also holds the World Record for non-stop jokes, telling an incredible 101 hours, 39 minutes worth of laughter.

However, in his spare time, John loves history and has written a couple of well-received books The Mirror Caught The Sun and Ambushed.

He has now written a follow up book called Ambushed 2. The book features six chapters in history that fascinate John and he has followed the trails of these subjects.

The six subjects are Baby Face Nelson, Rorke’s Drift, the capture of Adolf Eichmann, Violette Szabo, The Great Train Robbery and the Wola Massacre of 1944.

He also managed to get interviews with relatives of Baby Face Nelson, Violette Szabo, Adolf Eichmannand also Nick Reynolds the son of the gang leader of The Great Train Robbery, Bruce Reynolds

John told the Leader: “These are subjects that I am absolutely passionate about and I am fascinated by each story. I couldn’t put my heart and soul in to each one if I didn’t.

“The research takes up so much time and sometimes you can follow a trail that leads to a dead end. But when you get a morsel of information it is fantastic and it is like doing a big jigsaw with pieces falling in to place until you get the big picture.

“Following the trail of Baby Face Nelson for instance was amazing, going all around Chicago and many other places.

“Sometimes though, it can be a bit hair raising like when I followed the trail of former Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires. Clearly, there were doors that didn’t want to be opened and people who didn’t want to talk.

“But in order to get a proper picture, you just have to persevere”

Ambushed 2 is available on Amazon.co.uk for £12.50 and also in some local shops such as the Welsh Shop in Mold