AN AUTHOR’S book has gone down a storm – and now the story is being turned into a £20,000 musical.

Anthony Smith, who served in the military for 25 years, approached the Arts Council which agreed to contribute a staggering £15,000 to the show – called The Great Shindig.

Retired Mr Smith, aged 73, wrote the book – Making Rain and Other Things Is Our Business – in his spare time alongside a series of others.

The retired Bolton lecturer said: “I didn’t write the books for money. I wrote the books simply for fun as I enjoy writing. The idea to create a musical came about when I was talking to a friend of mine who is the composer for the Wingates Band.

“I was told that they will be able to compose a song for my book and things took off.”

Mr Smith has had to fork out £4,500 from his own pocket to fund his show.

In the book, a group of people control the weather with a cloud machine performing unusual weather tasks.

Although the Arts Council backed Mr Smith’s ideas, his self-published series of weather-related books have not yet taken off in the US where they are on sale, which Mr Smith claims is down to his poor marketing.

Mr Smith said: “My books are aimed at anyone with a good sense of humour. The weather is quite a hot topic in the UK.

“Whether or not I will write any other books, I do not know as publishing is too stressful, but I have left a lot of unanswered questions leaving an open door for a return.”

The author joined the Army Reserves at 38 before being transferred to the RAF as a telecommunications officer and finishing his service with the Royal Navy, after being headhunted.

The musical show, complete with animation, will be staged on Sunday, September 25, at The Brindley Theatre, in Runcorn.

The show features Wingates Band, Warrington Pipe-Band, Highland Dancers, the Brixi Singers and 14-year-old Atherton vocalist, Hannah Dootson. For further details, visit thegreatshindig.co.uk.