THE BEST stories, they say, are true, and a time-hopping tale of war and a dramatic chase across the Sahara will have its world premiere at The Courtyard Theatre in Hereford.

The moving new play, "Scorched", will come to the venue on July 14 and July 15, from 7pm, both evenings.

A spokesman said: "Inspired by the life of his grandfather, Hereford writer Lisle Turner presents the story of a World War II veteran whose self-tattooed body reminds him of his past as dementia erodes his present.

"In 1991 Jack reigns from his armchair, a decorated veteran of Tobruk, former river warden, boxer, horse whisperer, boat builder and charmer, but his mind drags him back to 1941 when he chased a German prisoner of war for two days across the scorching sands of the Sahara desert."

The spokesman added: "Some 75 years after the Siege of Tobruk, as soldiers continue to be sent to war in the desert, Open Sky considers the language, or lack of language, that veterans use to talk about war, the effects of dementia on memory and self-determination, and the relationship between masculinity and violence, love and loss."

Lisle Turner said: “My grandfather wouldn’t talk about the war and how it affected him for fifty years. Then when dementia struck in his late eighties, shocking stories started to pour out.

"At the same time my school friends were being sent to fight in the Gulf. Those desert wars continue to this day. Society is quick to forget what war does to soldiers and their families. My grandfather’s own memories betrayed him in the end. I want him, the things he did and saw and sacrificed, to be remembered.”

Tickets and further detail on, www.courtyard.org.uk and 01432 340555.