A RETIRED Methodist minister from Honiton is to spread his life story over more than one book – because, when he finished writing it, it amounted to 200,000 words.

A RETIRED Methodist minister from Honiton is to spread his life story over more than one book - because, when he finished writing it, it amounted to 200,000 words.

Merfyn Temple, 90, will launch Zambia Stole My Heart - Volume One at 10.30am in St Paul's Church on Saturday.

Attending the launch will be Shamway Muntemba, who works for the World Bank in America.

She is the chairman of Zambia Orphans of AIDS UK (ZOA) and first met Mr Temple when she was just a small child. The charity is to receive proceeds from the �9.99 book and Ms Muntemba has written the foreword.

Zambia Stole My Heart tells the story of Mr Temple's missionary work in Zambia.

"It's an interesting book in the sense that, when my mother died, I found letters I'd written to her in 1943.

"It is the memories that come from those letters and the authenticity you get from them that you wouldn't get looking back in retrospect."

Mr Temple reveals in the book how he went to Zambia as a young man and what it was like to arrive in a colonial territory.

"I behaved like a good colonial missionary - until a man handed me a letter - accusing missionaries of being in cahoots with the government," he told the Herald.

"The letter claimed we used 'Bible grease' to keep Zambians soft."

The letter changed Mr Temple's view of Zambia and he went on to become the first white man to join the United National Independence Party.

"I was not very popular with my own race, as you can imagine," he said.

"I think they thought I was a bit of a traitor.

"In fact, they threatened to throw me into prison.