The author, Peter Coke, died in Sharrington in Norfolk in 2008 aged 95. He had himself opened an antiques shop in the New Kings Road in the early 1940s and later returned to his first love of acting. He was the 7th actor to play the part of Paul Temple on radio and , apart from various stage appearances also featured in the film "Carry on Admiral" in 1957.
Late in life, he opened a shell gallery next to his home at Sharrington Hall producing all his own pieces and, in 2006, opened the Peter Coke Shell Gallery in Sheringham.