A SIMPLE bid at a charity auction of promises revealed a coincidence that has given a new insight into the life of a war hero.

The complex story began in Keswick, near Norwich, where Jolyon and Jean Harris, from nearby Swarsdeston, bid at the auction for a VIP visit for four people to the Green Howards Museum in Richmond.

The visit had been donated by the Green Howards Colonel of the Regiment, Major General Richard Dannatt, who lives in Keswick.

Soon after the couple visited Gainford, near Barnard Castle, County Durham, to stay with Jolyon's cousin Roland Harris and his wife Paddy.

The two couples went to the museum together where they were met by the curator, Lieutenant Colonel Neil McIntosh, and over coffee, Roland mentioned his namesake, Roland Milton Harris, the eldest son of Jolyon and Roland's grandfather.

He was a member of the Royal Flying Corps and had died in France, aged 19, on June 7, 1917.

They were astounded to hear that Harris had been a member of the Green Howards before being appointed to the RFC - and that his story formed part of the museum's Great War exhibit.

The display shows photographs of Harris and of a Nieuport 17 single-seater aircraft of the type he flew.

He had taken part in the Battle of the Somme in 1916 before joining the RFC and was a Second Lieutenant in the Yorkshire Regiment - the Green Howards

On the day he died he was undertaking ground-to-air firing practice when both starboard wings of his biplane came off.

The aircraft dived to the ground, killing him instantly. He is buried at Le Hameau near Arras - and Paddy and Roland Harris visit the grave each year to lay a wreath.