A British soldier struck down with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following the death of his best friend in Iraq hopes to set a new world record next month for the longest-ever book signing.

Neil Blower, 30, plans to sign 5,000 copies of his first novel over the course of the gruelling five DAY challenge.

The Royal Tank Regiment veteran, who turned to writing as a form of therapy, will make the attempt at the annual War and Peace Revival show in Kent this month.

He will spend up to 18 hours-a-day signing ‘Shell Shock: The Diary of Tommy Atkins’ and has even vowed to eat and SLEEP at his table if it means selling more copies.

Each fan who attends will receive his signature and a short personal message printed inside the book.

A donation from each book sold will be made to the Royal British Legion and to the veteran’s mental health charity, Combat Stress.

The aim is to set an unofficial world record for the longest continual book signing, rather than to beat the existing Guinness World Record for the most number of books signed in a single session – currently held by the chess champion Anatoli Karpov.

Neil, who lives in Salford, Manchester, hopes the attempt will raise awareness of PTSD and the plight of those affected by it.

Speaking yesterday Neil, who is one of the UK’s leading PTSD campaigners, said: “It’s not going to be a barrel of laughs – sitting, eating and sleeping in a marquee for five days solid is no one’s idea of a good time.

“But it will, I hope, go some considerable way towards bringing PTSD back into the spotlight. If we set an unofficial world record in the process, then that will be the icing on the cake.”

Neil was diagnosed with PTSD after his best friend and sergeant, Steve Roberts, became the first British casualty of the Iraq War. He was shot and killed by insurgents in March 2003.

The father-of-two, who also served on the frontline in Kosovo, found solace from a “maze of darkness” by taking up creative writing.

His first book 'Shell Shock: The Diary of Tommy Atkins' - which he described as 'Heart of Darkness meets Adrian Mole' - was published by Firestep Publishing to critical acclaim in October 2011.

He has now become one of Britain’s foremost campaigners for PTSD, and is the brainchild behind an idea to place ‘Veterans Champions' in every British local authority to support ex-forces personnel.

Neil’s record attempt will begin on the morning of Wednesday 17^th July and will end on Sunday 21^st July – a total of 90 hours continuous signing.  Neil can be found in the Victory Marquee.

The record will be unofficial because he cannot afford the fee levied by Guinness World Records to give it their stamp of approval.

But he hopes to submit evidence of his feat to a variety of other record accreditation organisations.

He added: “I’m not in this for a record – I am 100% focused on raising awareness of PTSD, pure and simple.”

Courtesy of Palamedes ENDS

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