Grandfather Cyril Shaw from St John's Wood has penned his first book about the secret world of accountants - written entirely by hand.

Cyril Shaw, who lives in Charlbert Street, has written a book about his life as an accountant entitled 'Clients? Who wants them? I do!', under the pseudonym Peregrine St John.

The 82-year-old prefers using pencil and paper to computers, as he prefers traditional methods to modern technology.

Over a period of four years, Mr Shaw wrote out the pages of the book by hand before faxing them to his son in America, who typed them onto a computer disk, which he sent to his father's publisher in London.

"I'm just not computer-literate," Mr Shaw explained. "Several authors have been known to write their works in longhand including, I think, Agatha Christie.

"My employer once said to me that to be a good accountant, all you need is a pencil and a rubber, and the same is true with writing. It may have cost a lot more to fax the pages to my son, but it's worth the expense for the finished product."

He added that he chose the pen name Peregrine St John because he likes the name, and also it includes the name of the area where he is from.

Mr Shaw's book gives highlights of his work as an accountant for more than 60 years, including 50 years with a firm in Baker Street, Marylebone.

One story told in his book comes from the Second World War. Mr Shaw said: "My employer used to make me call him when I was returning to the office after meeting a client.

"One day, I was on the bus when a V2 rocket came out of the sky, bombing my bus and the two other buses behind me. I dragged some of the injured people into my office, with my shirt ripped and covered in blood, and my boss came out and berated me. He asked what had taken me so long, and said I should have been back earlier."

Mr Shaw added that he hopes the book will dispel negative stereotypes surrounding accountants. He said: "I find that around 99 per cent of accountants are nerds, but I assure you I'm in the other one per cent."