PONTYPOOL great, Eddie Butler, will be talking about his debut novel, The Head of Gonzo Davies.

The former Welsh rugby captain, British Lions number eight and sports broadcaster, known locally for having played with Pontypool RFC, has turned his hand to fiction.

Mr Butler’s new book tells the tale of an ex-Welsh rugby international who is invalided out of the professional game but returns to his struggling village club, little knowing that he is embroiled in a darker, more troubling world than that of mere rugby football.

The Head of Gonzo Davies takes us from modern-day Millennium Stadium professionalism back to the amateur days and the decline of Welsh heavy industry, and even further back to pre-Second World War valley life.

“The basic premise is why is this guy, this former Welsh rugby player, called Gonzo Davies,” explains Mr Butler

“So we go back in time – there’s a distant family history of why he is called Gonzo, then there’s a slightly more recent time-lapse when we visit Gonzo’s glory days when he had his moment as a star player and what became of that. Then we have his present, he’s re-emerged as an ageing player in his twilight years back in his home village. His team just happen to find themselves on a cup run – the cup run is set against a turbulence within Wales.”

The Head of Gonzo Davies by Eddie Butler is available now in bookshops and online retailers, and is priced at £8.99. Mr Butler will be at Chepstow RFC on, October 15 at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from Chepstow Bookshop on 01291 625011. He will also be appearing at Shire Hall in Monmouth on, November 20 at 7pm, Waterstones in Abergavenny on, November 22 between 10.30am and 11.30am, WHSmith in Cwmbran on, November 28, at 11am, Waterstones Newport on, November 29 between 10.30am and 11.30am, and Pontypool Market on, December 3.