THE town of Hayes has had a long and intriguing past. The area today is made up of what was originally five separate villages, Botwell, Hayes Town, Hayes End, Wood End and Yeading.

It became part of the London Borough of Hillingdon in 1965 but has a history that stretches back more than a thousand years.

The latest volume in Amberley Books’ best-selling ‘Secret’ series, called Secret Hayes, covers a wealth of topics about the town’s past, from its origins to becoming the home of EMI and, briefly, novelist George Orwell.

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Author Louise Wyatt, who grew up in the town, unearths its secrets in her book, to be published on February 15.

After winning a number of writing and poetry competitions in her early years, she ended up having a family then training to be a nurse, but continued to write for pleasure.

Secret Hayes is published in paperback, with 100 illustrations, at £14.99 and will also be available in Kindle and iBook formats.