Simon Evans ( writer ) Simon Evans ( 10 August 1895 – 9 August 1940 ) , a postman with the GPO ( now Royal Mail ) for most of his short life , also developed a reputation in the 1930s as a writer and broadcaster on country life , particularly in and around rural South Shropshire . He had five books published by Heath Cranton Ltd within a seven - year span ( 1931 – 38 ) before his death in 1940 . In recent years a collection of his writings has been published , and other memorials created , including plaques in Cleobury Mortimer , where he lived for 14 years , and a 28 - km walk based on his postal round stretching from Cleobury Mortimer deep into the South Shropshire countryside . Early life . Simon Evans was born at Tynyfedu , Wales , not far from Lake Vyrnwy , a reservoir supplying water to Liverpool . His father , Ellis Evans , was a farmer , but the family farm was too poor to support a growing number of sons , so Ellis and his family left Wales for Birkenhead on Merseyside around 1907 . Simon , tall for his age , and speaking with a strong Welsh accent , did not have an easy time at school , but did owe his love of literature to an influential teacher . When he left school , he worked for the General Post Office as a messenger boy and postman . War service . On the outbreak of the First World War , Evans joined the 16th Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment , and spent much of the next five years in trench warfare , an experience which left him mentally and physically scarred . He was wounded and invalided back to England at least once , and finally wounded and gassed in 1918 . Life after WWI . Evans returned to Merseyside after an operation on his wounded legs , but found himself unable to settle down to the life of an urban postman . Gas damage to his lungs meant he still had to spent time in convalescent homes , and on one occasion was advised to take a walking holiday before returning to his work as a postman . This holiday he took in or near Cleobury Mortimer , and there he found a postman willing to exchange a rural postal round for Simon ' s urban one . With some difficulty , an exchange was arranged , and Evans took up work in Cleobury Mortimer in 1926 . Cleobury Mortimer . His new life in Cleobury Mortimer suited him perfectly . He later claimed that as a country postman he knew many more people than he had known when working in a town . At the time , the GPO provided rural walking postmen with shelter huts at the further point of their rounds , and Evans took full advantage of his , turning it into a place where he could read , write , and even spend the nights when off duty . In 1928 , he won a scholarship offered by the Union of Post Office Workers to enroll on a correspondence course in English at Ruskin College , Oxford . This was to prove a turning point in his career , as it opened the door to literature , and led to his becoming a published writer and a broadcaster . Evans ' settling in Cleobury created a new focus for his family , and he was later joined by his mother and several siblings , probably after the death of his father . However , no descendants of this family now reside in the town . Literary work . Starting as a writer of short articles , largely about rural life as experienced by a country postman , Evans soon caught the attention of the BBC and became a regular contributor to programmes on the Midland Service . His broadcasts were heard by Shannie , the daughter of the publisher Heath Cranton who suggested to her father that Evans ' work would be worth publishing in book form . A meeting between Cranton , Evans , and Rev . Rope ( one of Cranton ' s existing authors ) was arranged , and this resulted in the publication of Evans ' first book on 20 March 1931 . This was a collection of short items , most of which had already appeared in print or on the air . It was followed by his second book the following year , and three more in the next few years . His first book , " Round About the Crooked Steeple " , was the most successful , and the only one to be reprinted , the first reprint being dated 9 April 1931 , only 20 days after the first impression . Throughout the 1930s , not only did Evans continue to work as a postman , but he also continued to write for periodicals , mostly local , but also occasionally for national weekly magazines and even daily newspapers . He often re - wrote or re - worked earlier pieces , and re - submitted these for publication elsewhere . A particular idea or anecdote , therefore , might appear in several publications , might also be broadcast on the BBC , and finally end up in one of his books . Four of his books were largely collections of articles which had already been published and broadcast pieces , but one , " Applegarth " , was a full - length novel , and one which was so constructed as to admit of a sequel , should the opportunity arise . Although sometimes referred to as a poet , Evans wrote little poetry , though frequently quoted poems by others in his books . His biographer , Mark Baldwin , has argued that Evans was more of a craftsman than an imaginative writer . Marriage . His frequent visits to the BBC studio in Birmingham brought Evans into contact with a professional singer and entertainer , Doris Aldridge , who was working at the time in children ' s radio as " Aunty Doris " . They were married in 1938 , and lived in a house in Cleobury Mortimer , built to their own design . Less than two years later , Evans was badly affected by his recurring lung trouble , resulting most likely from the mustard gassing he suffered in the First World War , and died in Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham on 9 August 1940 , the day before what would have been his 45th birthday . He was cremated at nearby Lodge Hill Cemetery and his ashes scattered on Abdon Burf , in the Cleobury neighbourhood . There were no children of the marriage , and his widow soon left Cleobury Mortimer to pursue her professional career . She never remarried , and died in 2006 .