HE ran away from school and joined the Army under-age during the Second World War - rising through the ranks to command NATO’s Northern Region as a full General.

Now, the life and campaigns of celebrated Royal Welch Fusilier, Gloucestershire and Parachute Regiment, General Sir Anthony Farrar-Hockley are to be explored in an extraordinary new book, Oft in Danger.

“‘Farrar the Para’ – as he was affectionately known to his troops – was one of the most distinguished field commanders of modern times,” says the biography’s author, Lieutenant-General Jonathon Riley, aged 60, who lives near Lampeter.

“Trusted by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; a prisoner of the Chinese and Koreans; and an IRA target even after he had retired – he was also no stranger to controversy.

"My book chronicles both his active military service, which saw him awarded the Distinguished Service Order twice and the Military Cross, and his later career as a broadcaster and commentator on military history, defence and security matters.”

Commissioned by one of the world’s leading publishers of military history, Helion & Company Ltd, Oft in Danger has the full backing of the Farrar-Hockley family, who invited Lieutenant-General Riley to pen the book. He was stationed in Afghanistan at the time - and it would be four years before he was able to take up the offer.

Advance copies of Oft in Danger can be purchased online at helion.co.uk