THE EXTRAORDINARY bravery and life of a Dawlish doctor has been retold in a new book.

Author Phil Craig will be giving a talk on his latest book 1945 The Reckoning which features the story of Dr Douglas Peterkin, who worked as a doctor in Dawlish after the war.

Phil, who will be talking about the book tomorrow at the Manor House, explained: ‘The focus of my talk is a much loved Dawlish personality in the post war decades, Dr Douglas Peterkin, and his service in the British army, especially at the Belsen concentration camp 80 years ago where he did some miraculous and very brave things.’

The book is the final volume of his triology about Britain in the Second World War.

Uncovering Dr Peterkin’s story came about in the late 1990s, when Phil’s mother and father-in-law wanted to treat their grandchildren to a typical meal from their wartime childhood in Dawlish.

This led to Phil’s suggestion to the BBC for a series call Finest Hour which was the basis for his later best-selling book.

His in-laws told one particular story about their childhood when his father-in-law Tony Bryant’s life and health were saved when polio hit the town in 1947/48.

This much-loved Dawlish doctor had an extraordinary Second World War story which directly affected Phil’s life by curing young Tony.

Tony and his widow, Jennifer Bryant, once Dawlish baker’s daughter Jennifer Newberry, will also be speaking at the Manor House talk.

Phil looked into the story of Dr Douglas Peterkin who had treated his father-in-law and discovered, unknown to anyone, he had been a hero of the relief of Belsen concentration camp.

Dr Peterkin had been at the heart of extraordinary medical efforts that saved the lives of thousands of desperately ill and starving people.

He was in the typhus huts, the ‘human laundry’ and inevitably he caught typhus too.

Phil made contact through social media with Dr Peterkin’s surviving relatives and discovered much more about him.

He learned that while Dr Peterkin was recovering from his own illness, he came across some of the typhus suffering survivors from the ‘lost trains’ that had left Belsen in the final weeks.

Recognising their symptoms immediately, he made sure they were sent to military hospital and saved five more lives.

Phil eventual met one of the people whose lives Dr Peterkin had saved.

The talk at the Manor House is at 4.30pm, entry costs £5 which will include a glass of win and a ration-book pasty based on a real wartime Dawlish recipe.

Phil studied history at Cambridge University and later worked for iconic TV series World In Action and Panorama.

He later held senior positions at the Discovery Channel and ABC television in Australia where he ran the factual output.

Throughout, he has spent many years researching and reinterpreting the story of Britain and its Empire during the Second World War.