The son of a Radcliffe football legend and Second World War veteran has written a book, dedicated to the memory of his father.

John Bradshaw, born in July 1920, represented Rome Area Army Command against a joint team from Rome, AS Roma and SS Lazio.

The charity match on February 4, 1945, raised nearly one million lira for Rome's orphans and was watched by nearly 20,000 fans.

John’s son, Ian, has written a book, entitled John Bradshaw, Royal Army Pay Corps, International Stadium Rome, February 8; 1945, featuring photos from an extensive scrapbook, which took him five years to collate.

On the day of the match, one of the players on the Italian team, Andreoli, had already won the world cup for Italy in France in 1938.

Ian said: “I wrote this book to give something back to my dad after he gave me so much. He was an outstanding sportsman who taught me a lot not just, about football, but about life, fairness, and honesty.

“I’m immensely proud he achieved so much against a country that was our enemy at the time, but he was always more interested in humanity than politics or war.”

John’s early career saw him rub shoulders with Stanley Matthews, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time for Stoke City FC and Blackpool FC.

In addition to football, John was part of the Royal Army Pay Corps during the war, following troops through North Africa, Sicily and later Italy.

Later John was a Methodist preacher and FA coach, training his son.

“He turned me into a decent player” added Ian, “I don’t think I appreciated until many years later just how much he helped me and how unbelievably well he understood the game.”

Ian’s book has been distributed mostly to family and friends in America, Australia, Italy and the UK.