Ray Murray, a former advertising executive who lives in Burford, has written his first children’s book, Arabella Parker and the Primrose School Revolt (Blue Jacaranda, £5.99), about a nine-year-old who leads a protest against a plan to demolish her school and replace it with a megastore.

The book has sold so well that Mr Murray is bringing out a second Arabella book shortly, in which Arabella takes on a Chinese gang who want to kidnap her friend.

The author is now working on a third in the series.