WARTS and all stories of life for ordinary soldiers serving in a famous North-East regiment was launched by a best-selling local author.

Terry Deary, famous for his off-beat Horrible History books, has given his own quirky treatment to 20 stories plucked from exhibits and archives at the Durham Light Infantry Museum and Durham Art Gallery.

He was at the museum in Durham, on Monday, for a book signing and to tell an eager audience of people both young and old another tale which did not make it into the pages of the new publication, Dirty Little Imps.

Designed as part guide and part history book, it can be used by visitors to the museum, who can find artefacts relating to the stories distributed around the displays.

But the author stressed it should not be seen as some form of official regimental history.

He said: "It's very much a collection of stories, some strange and savage, some wacky and weird and others brave and barmy, telling of the lucky and lousy things that happened to the men who served in the DLI over 200 years.

"The research was done by the museum curator, Steve Shannon, who is the expert, and I picked it up from there.

"The tales reveal a lot about human nature, how people react like they do in traumatic situations. They're all true stories, some poignant, some tragic, others that are happier. While there's plenty of black humour among them."

Apart from Mr Shannon's research, the museum's exhibition officer Dennis Hardingham is another local contributor, as he drew all the illustrations featured in Dirty Little Imps.

Meanwhile, on the Horrible Histories front, Mr Deary's next publication, the 41st book in the series, The Horrible History of England, will be launched on Monday.

So far the first 40 books have sold 16 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 32 different languages.

Dirty Little Imps, produced by County Durham Books, the publishing arm of Durham County Council, costs £3.50 and is available from bookstores in and around Durham City.