He's been compared with Gervaise Phinn, who writes of his time as school inspector - now fellow Yorkshireman Jack Sheffield is tipped for similar success.

The former headteacher who's now an author talks to Women's Editor Sarah Foster.

IT was with a feeling of excitement and expectation that I drove slowly into Ragley village and along the High Street, past the General Stores, Piercy's Butcher's Shop, the Village Pharmacy, Pratt's Hardware Emporium, Nora's Coffee Shop, Diane's Hair Salon and a tiny red post office with a red telephone box outside. Ahead of me was the village green, and I stopped the car and surveyed the scene.

A large, white-fronted public house, The Royal Oak, nestled in the centre of a row of terraced cottages at the far side of the grassy triangle and off to my right, behind an avenue of horse chestnut trees, was Ragley School. In that instant, I knew I could be happy there."

This rather idyllic sounding description marks young Jack Sheffield's introduction to his new life in Ragley village. The 31-year-old, who's very nervous, has come to take up his position as the new head of Ragley School. What happens next - and how he fares in this most challenging of roles - makes up the plot of Teacher, Teacher, in which he stars as the protagonist.

What strikes you first about the book is just how comfortable it is. From its beginning with Jack's arrival in the quaint North Yorkshire village, it treads an undulating path through daily life at Ragley School. The tone is whimsical and light, with tales of minor misdemeanors and vibrant characters as staff. It is the fictional equivalent of curling up beside a fire.

To meet the author in the flesh just reinforces this impression. A native Yorkshireman (he comes from Leeds), he is both affable and warm. It doesn't take a lot of prompting for him to talk about the book. "I need to be here to write this sort of material because I need to use the micro fiche - the film that is used when an old newspaper is photographed - at York Central Library," says Jack of being based in York. "Yesterday, I was reading The Times from March 30, 1980, when Margaret Thatcher had just become Prime Minister and there was four inches of snow in Sheffield. I go there and make a lot of notes."

Though Jack has written about himself, he says it isn't an autobiography but more like fiction based on fact. "A loose term is semi-autobiographical," says the 61-year-old, who's married to Elizabeth, has two daughters, and is a stepfather to three. "To be absolutely precise, all the characters are fictional because what I've done is remembered and collected all these stories and experiences in my life and used these as a fund of stories. Jack Sheffield is a young, single, 31-year-old and you experience the life of this fictitious Ragley-on-the-Forest through his eyes. People I've worked with, friends and relations, will probably recognise bits and pieces of certain characters, but I've been careful to make sure it's a fictional account."

The story starts in the 1970s and has a feeling of nostalgia, with Jack's research into the era providing extra authenticity. It is a time he clearly loves. "It kicks off after the silver jubilee in 1977, so the guys are wearing flares and kipper ties and wide lapels and the females are wearing multi-coloured tank tops," he says. "There were no mobile phones, no national curriculum - it was almost like a golden age."

And Jack is speaking from experience. Just like Jack Sheffield in the book, he was a primary school headmaster in two quaint hamlets in North Yorkshire. Though he retired in 2001, he still considers it his heyday. "Clearly my happiest time in teaching was this time," he says. "The curriculum came alive every day because I would have a local farmer who would bring in a couple of baby goats and the children would feed them.

"There was lots of opportunity for first- hand experience. We had our own garden, we built a pond and we went camping."

Yet while Jack flourished as a teacher, this wasn't always his ambition. In fact, his far from privileged background meant he was destined for a trade. "My father said 'when you're as tall as me you have to go out to work', so when I was 15, I was 6ft tall and he took me out of school and sent me to work with him repairing roofs," he says. "I became what's known as a pitch boy, except the pitch was boiling bitumen, and I carried it in buckets. That's why I have marks on the backs of my hands."

It was a visit from his teacher that put an end to this pursuit. "My English teacher came to the house in 1961 and said to my mother 'your Jack could make something of himself if he went back to school', so somehow she persuaded my father to let me go back to school," he says. "That's how I finished up having an opportunity to become a teacher."

And there was help from other quarters. A chance encounter with Jimmy Savile proved another lucky break. "He'd broken down in the middle of Leeds, so I pushed him, then I went for a coffee with him," says Jack. "He asked me what I wanted to do and I said 'I want to join the Army, be a policeman or be a teacher' and he recommended that I become a teacher. He sent me to a careers fair at the Corn Exchange in Leeds. I'd no money so he gave me £1 and told me where to go for the interview (for teacher training). I went for the interview and got in."

And so began his long career, which ended with Jack becoming a lecturer teaching primary education. He'd always dreamed of being a writer, and once retired, took up his chance. "Like many things in life, it was two or three things coming together," muses Jack. "It was having time to start writing and the fact that my mother said 'you must start writing, Jack'. Once I'd written the book, I then thought 'what do I do with it?', so I decided to self-publish."

Soon Jack had found himself an agent, who sent the novel out to publishers. They lapped it up and it was auctioned, and now it's being sold by Transworld, which counts Dan Brown among its authors. Those who enjoy Jack's debut book will soon have others to devour. "The first book is 1977 to 1983 and that's what my first six novels are going to be about," he says. "I'm also writing some teenage fiction based in York called Hexagon, and that's in the style of Philip Pullman."

Yet much as writing gives him pleasure, he does admit he misses school. When he considers teaching now, with all its centralized control, is he depressed about the change? "The league tables have clearly had an impact on the style of teaching and content of the curriculum, but I would still say that there are lots of good teachers out there, and they're giving children rich and appropriate experiences, so I'm not depressed at all," says Jack.

Teacher, Teacher by Jack Sheffield (Transworld, £7.99), www.jacksheffield.com. Jack will be signing copies of the book and giving a talk at Stockton Library on June 19 at 7pm.