A HORWICH grandad who began writing stories to send his grandchildren to sleep has had his published stories accepted into libraries at Oxford and Cambridge universities.

Joe Green, aged 70, dreamed up his adventure stories as a means of entertaining his four grandchildren, but was convinced to publish them by brother Peter, aged 67, who has created the illustrations and artwork for the stories.

Joe has recently published his sixth story and the entire collection, entitled Once Upon a ... The Adventures of Elizabeth, Thomas, Leila and Samuel — named after the grandchildren who inspired him — has found its way into some of the oldest and most prestigious libraries in the country.

The stories can be found at The Bodleian Library at Oxford University — one of the oldest and the second largest library in the country.

Other places stocking the book include Cambridge University Library, the National Libraries of Scotland Wales and Trinity College Library Dublin.

Mr Green said: “I didn’t start writing with the aim of getting published — it was simply to entertain the grandkids.

“Every story I do will always have a picture of them on the front because they are my inspiration — that is where it all came from.”

He said each story can be written in as little time as half a day, providing he gets the right idea.

He added: “Sometimes you just see something and it sparks you off.

"I wrote one of the stories on a plane coming back from Greece.”

The latest story in the series is called A Great Adventure and is about a bear called Mr Brown who has disappeared from the garden.

Mr Green's brother Peter said the two of them work well as a team, adding: “I have always enjoyed drawing and I said to Joe, if you write them then I will do the drawings, and we enjoy working together.

“We love doing it and we are already working on the next one.”

The books are available online or on Kindle.