A wildlife cameraman who promised his grandmother he would see her Celtic folk tales published has finally achieved his goal.

WHEN Julian Brooks was a teenager, he promised his gran that one day he would get her book published.

Now, more than two decades later, he has finally achieved his goal.

The film-maker and photographer, who lives in Tackley, near Kidlington, was determined to keep his promise to Norah Montgomerie.

She spent most of her life in Scotland with the renowned poet William Montgomerie and the couple, right, collected and published many collections of nursery rhymes and Scottish folk tales.

In the 1970s, Norah compiled a collection of tales about the exploits of Finn MacCoul, which are legendary in Irish and Scottish culture.

She retold the stories to make them more accessible, and the book was accepted for publication – but at the last minute, the publisher pulled the plug on the deal.

Mr Brooks sensed his gran's disappointment, and made his promise, not knowing at that point whether he would be able to keep it.

Norah died in 1998, when she was in her 90s, and over the years, the boxes containing the manuscript came into Mr Brooks's possession.

It wasn’t long before he and his Norwegian wife Ingunn Haugen, centre, began to pore over them, and they quickly realised the potential of the bloodthirsty tales about Finn and his gang and started to put the paperwork in order.

Mr Brooks, 45, a freelance cameraman, told The Guide: “Norah was known as an illustrator and wrote children’s books, and her husband was one of the best Scottish poets of the 20th century.

“There were about 28 stories, with about six or seven versions of each story, and a lot of the papers were loose, so we knew we knew this would be a lot of work. I got hold of the boxes in about 1999 and spent a couple of years playing around with it before we decided we would try to get the stories published.

“After our daughter Charlotte was born five years ago, my wife did a lot of work on the stories and I couldn't have completed this project without her help. We took the stories apart and put them together again.”

After illustrator Paul Rumsey produced some atmospheric sketches to complement Norah’s work, the stories were accepted for publication by Edinburgh-based Berlinn.

“America is probably one of the main markets because of its Irish and Scottish connections but the Japanese are also fascinated by Scottish folk tales,” Mr Brooks adds.

He and his wife, step-daughter Emma, 11, and daughter Charlotte, five, are now celebrating the publication of the magical tales, which keep the memory of Norah Montgomerie alive.

Mr Brooks, who trained as a wildlife cameraman with Oxford Scientific Films, said: “When I was at university, I made a promise to Norah that I would get the stories published one day and it was wonderful to be able to do that for her because she did a lot for me when I was a kid.”

The Fantastical Feats of Finn MacCoul, retold by Norah Montgomerie and edited by Julian Brooks, is published by Berlinn, price £12.99 hardback.