IT is not enough for Patrick Caruth that he’s got a successful day job as an airline pilot – he’s also a published children’s book author.

Mr Caruth, who grew up near Bridport, developed a passion for flying at an early age, learning to fly while still at school.

He got his commercial licence soon after and his early years were spent flying the Highlands and Islands routes in Scotland.

He joined Britannia Airways in 1986 and is currently the captain on the Boeing 757 flying worldwide routes.

But when his two children were small he discovered the joy of telling stories.

He said: “I started writing the books about ten years ago when my children were five and three and they discovered woodlice in the garden underneath the flowerpots.

“They were asking questions about what they were, what they ate, that sort of thing.

“Without really thinking I made up a story about them, then another story and then gave them names and it just sort of snowballed from there.”

In common with many writers he found it impossible to find a publisher and let his stories languish in a drawer until a few years ago.

When he moved back to Dorset five years he found a local publisher who teamed him up with illustrator Jenny Noscoe from Wimborne and published the first in the series of Worldlice World.

Sadly the publisher closed down so Mr Caruth decided to go it alone for the next two adventure books, which are aimed at children from three to five.

He will be signing copies of the third, just published, called Archie and Pam’s Flying Adventure, at Waterstones on Saturday (July 12) at 10.30am.

Mr Caruth added: “At the moment I haven’t planned another book. I will try and get these three really going now and do another one in a year or so’s time.

“The illustrations are beautiful and the expressions on the faces of the woodlice and the children seem to really love them. I just think they are so good and more children should be able to read them. They are different and they are fun and incredibly colourful. There is nothing else like it out there.”

When Mr Caruth, who now lives in Sherborne with his wife Lucy, isn’t writing he spends his spare time flying aerobatics in his biplane on sunny days and going fishing on cloudy days.