Fleetwood man's collection of military and space manuals tops 80

And Mark, 58, of Windward Avenue in Fleetwood, says he has no plans to end his passion any time soon, as he is looking forward to being sent the next one.

His enduring interest in the books came to light when Haynes Publishing decided to celebrate the 75th anniversary of its first manual publication, back in November 1945.

The manuals used to include step-by step guides to car maintenance but gradually the publishers began to concentrate more on in-depth military manuals, many of them offering a wealth of technical details on celebrated war planes and tanks.

Haynes decided to celebrate its most avid readers - and Mark's story shone out.

Mark, who spent 33 years in the airline industry in flight operations and planning, says he would never dream of throwing his manuals out once he's read them, as he likes to re-read them and brush up on the wealth of detail in the publications.

His collection of 84 manuals includes 54 which focus on military history, along with others on topics such as space, transport and even cooking.

His collection is proudly stored in its own set of bookshelves.

Avid reader Mark, who is married to Barbara, said: "As with many people, I’ve had more time than ever to read over the last few months and have been really enjoying the opportunity to delve in and out of my collection – and importantly build on it further.

"And as we head towards the winter months, I can think of nothing better than enjoying a wee dram of whiskey by the fire as I settle in to read the latest Haynes manual.”

He added: "You might expect the content to be somewhat superficial, but the content is first rate and some of the technical detail that they go into is superb."

Some of the most popular manuals include titles looking at the Vickers Wellington and Avro Lancaster bombers, as well as Germany’s Panther Tank.

The publishing house says the rise in demand for these specialist titles coincides with when many households would have been honouring VE Day during the nation’s initial lockdown period.