Former News of the World columnist and Sunday Sport editor John Bull yesterday launched his new book, ‘The Night they Blitzed the Ritz’ written during his long winter breaks at the Imperial Hotel in Malta over the past two years.

The book is Mr Bull’s memoirs of a small-town family blasted into the front line of the Second World War in the UK. It records emotions and relationships of children and working people who soon realise that they are no longer civilians in war.

The horror of children killed and maimed by night bombing is leavened with the tragicomic and farcical events of everyday life. It also incorporates an account of how he learned to love his family. The book is unique since the experience of a child is not commonly written about. It also connects wartime Malta with the UK.

Meanwhile the Imperial Hotel itself has a long connection, playing an important part in World War I as an infirmary and in World War II when it hosted the Wrens.