Dame Vera Lynn – Kevin Telfer

Dame Vera Lynn's new book Keep Smiling Through

Dame Vera Lynn’s new book Keep Smiling Through: My Wartime Story is published today by Century. Vera turned 100 earlier this year and I have been fortunate enough to work with her and her daughter Virginia Lewis-Jones in telling the remarkable story of her visit to entertain the troops in Burma in 1944.

Her visit coincided with the turning point in the war in the Far East and she was close to the front as the pivotal battles of Kohima and Imphal were being fought. Vera had just turned twenty-seven, and had only been out of the country once before, but she wanted to do ‘her bit’ to help.

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About me

I am an author and journalist with an interest in all kinds of stories and a special love for the natural world, literature, history, music and wine. I live on the edge of the New Forest.

My book commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, The Summer of ’45: Stories and Voices from VE Day to VJ Day begins with the signing of the German surrender to the Western Allies in Reims on 7 May. The Summer of ’45 is a ‘people’s history’ which gathers voices from all levels of society and from all corners of the globe to explore the four months following that surrender that would dictate the order of the world for decades to come.

My debut novel Indrakhani Pass is available as a Kindle ebook. It is an adventure story set in the Indian Himalayas.

I am the author of a number of non-fiction books including Peter Pan’s First XI, about J. M. Barrie’s cricket team the Allahakbarries, and The Remarkable Story of Great Ormond Street Hospital.

I co-wrote Grand Designs Abroad with television presenter Kevin McCloud and have helped Dame Vera Lynn and her daughter Virginia Lewis-Jones tell the story of Dame Vera’s time singing in Burma during the Second World War.

I have also co-written two books about low-energy buildings called earthships with Mischa Hewitt. The second, and most up-to-date, of these is Earthships in Europe, which you can buy though the Brighton Earthship, which Mischa helps to run.

Using the pseudonym Milton Crawford I wrote The Hungover Cookbook, which has been translated into Dutch, Finnish and German and has sold more than 200,000 copies worldwide. The second book in the series is The Drunken Cookbook and the third is The Lover’s Cookbook.

I have written articles for publications including the Guardian, the Telegraph, The Sunday Times, the Idler, the Architects’ Journal, Green Building Magazine, Grand Designs magazine and BBC Who Do You Think You Are? magazine.

I have also been the news editor for the Media Society, a script consultant for BBC drama Lark Rise to Candleford, and an award-winning digital copywriter, winning the PR Week award for best in social and digital media in 2011 for a groundbreaking project with the RAF Benevolent Fund.