A well-known historian has praised "brilliant" Royal Mail after a touching letter arrived at his door despite being sent without an address.

James Holland, a popular broadcaster revealed the letter had been sent by the 102-year old widow of a World War Two veteran with anecdotes in time for a talk he was giving in Wiltshire about his new book Cassino ’44 which explores on the war's Italian campaign, as per BBC News.

“The really lovely thing is the letter was from a 102-year-old called Judy Bray about her husband Charlie, to whom she was married for 71 years before he sadly died," he continued.

"He had served in Italy so she was sharing some anecdotes about him before the talk in Salisbury that she was coming along to.

“The envelope had that beautiful, old-fashioned, scratchy handwriting which I used to get a lot of when I was spending time writing to war veterans but sadly much less so these days.

“How fantastic that presumably it got to the Salisbury sorting office and then got to Andy, who is our brilliant local postman and much loved by the village community,” the historian added.

Paul Gibbons, a postman from Swindon told BBC that posties often go the extra mile to make sure people get their mail.

“Up and down the country there are loads of us who do it," he said. "The envelope will say ‘the little house on the corner opposite the corner shop whose son used to work in the butchers’ and that will be it,” he said.

“I believe we as delivery persons are that little cut above the rest. We get that feel, that knowledge and that understanding of what goes on in the community and who lives there. It makes a difference.”

Holland has written an number a number of best-selling histories including as well as written nine works of historical fiction, including the successful Jack Tanner series.