Writer and broadcaster Spencer Leigh has carefully constructed an impressive cottage industry since he first appeared on BBC Radio Merseyside over 40 years ago.

“I’m embarrassed to say that my first series was a poetry one called No Holds Bard, and I didn’t appreciate at the time that written puns didn’t work on radio,” says Spencer. “That was in 1972 and I hope I’ve improved since then.”

2015 looks like being a busy year for Spencer, who turned 70 in February. His first book - a biography of Paul Simon - was published in 1973 and in the 42 years since, he has written, or collaborated on, over two dozen books, many of which he has just made available for the first time as ebooks on Amazon.

“I’ve got the rights to many of my books back and effectively I can do what I like with them, so I decided to turn them into ebooks,” says Spencer, who lives in Ainsdale with his wife Anne.

“Over the last year I’ve been taking them and converting them but the trouble with my books is that when I revisit them, I want to change and update them so it’s never a case of just cutting and pasting because your views change about things too.”

“Most of my books have been based on interviews with singers, musicians and songwriters and so I have often been able to expand them with new material.”

Books by Spencer that are now available on Kindle include his biographies of Lonnie Donnegan and Billy Fury as well as an updated version of a 2001 book called Baby, That Is Rock And Roll, American Pop 1954-1963.

“You don’t get the chance to pause and look back at your work like this very often, and I realised I was very pleased with how I’d written some of them,” he adds over a coffee at The Atkinson.

Pausing never seems to be an option for Spencer, who also writes obituaries for The Independent and has written the sleeve notes for over 250 albums.

“What’s the alternative?” he laughs. “I’ve been doing things for the radio since BBC Radio Merseyside started and On The Beat has been going every week since the mid-1980s. It’s great fun and I try to do a show that I would like to listen to myself because I like such a wide range of music. I think people on the whole enjoy it if like me they like a large cross section of music.”

Spencer’s next project is a book about, Frank Sinatra tiled Frank Sinatra – An Extraordinary Life which is being published in hardback and ebook by McNidder and Grace in October.

“It really is an extraordinary life,” says Spencer, who has spent over two years on the book. “The guy never stopped.

“It all started when a friend of mine, Peter Grant, who owns a bookshop, contacted me to say they had got a pile of stuff from a house clearance which included lots of magazines and files about Sinatra.

“I went to see it and thought it was wonderful stuff and I thought I’d like to do something with it. I’ve always liked Sinatra and he’s such an intriguing character. You always want a larger than life character to write about, which is why the Lonnie Donegan book was so fun to do, and there are a lot of similarities between them. Frank always wanted to be in charge.”

In the book, Spencer analyses Sinatra’s music and films as well as his rumoured connections with the mafia. And then there’s his visit to Southport.

“Sinatra visited Southport in the 1950s,” adds Spencer. “He was going to stay at the Prince of Wales but he didn’t like it and checked out and went to the Palace. He couldn’t resist messing about with things even when he had something good going.”