HIS first name was Horace and he went on to work on top-secret aircraft. But who exactly was he? And what became of his promising future?

That is the information being sought by Tony Larkin who has been busily researching into the life of the long-gone Dr Joseph Unsworth of St Helens.

Larkins Restaurant, owned by Tony and his family, now occupies the grand, Victorian-style building in North Road, where Dr Unsworth lived and practised medicine.

Dr Unsworth was a remarkable man - a pioneer motorist and one of the first in utilising X-Ray machines. He was very much alive in pre-war times.

And in scouring a family book, Tony finds that Horace (no surname provided) had worked as a mechanic and chauffeur for the doctor. It seems that he was a St Helens man.

There are no clear details what he later had to contribute to top-secret aircraft, or how they performed. "And I'd just love to know more", says Tony.