A FORMER SAS soldier who became a journalist with The Northern Echo has died suddenly.

Bill Anderson, who died two days before his 74th birthday, lived a colourful life in which he was also a film-maker and children's writer.

He died at the home he shared with his partner, Sheila Johnson, at Thornton-le-Dale, near Pickering, North Yorkshire. He leaves a son, Robert, 44, a daughter Heather, 49, and a grandson Sami, 11.

Mr Anderson, who worked at The Northern Echo in the 1970s, grew up in Thornaby and won a place at the local grammar school. Aged 17, he joined the Army and served with the Green Howards.

He was later selected for the SAS and fought guerrillas in the jungles of Malaysia.

On his return to England, he wrote for a newspaper in Aldershot and then moved to Doncaster, where he married in the mid-1950s. He also worked for a news agency and was a Fleet Street reporter.

Mr Anderson made the film Wolfshead, The Legend of Robin Hood, which was a British entry in the Moscow Children's Film Festival, and wrote four children's stories set in Buckingham Palace, which he was planning to compile into a set called Tales From The Royal Mousehold.

He also made documentaries for London Weekend Television in Africa, the US and Russia.

He was passionate about horse racing and worked as a researcher for the broadcaster Alan Whicker and with Hammer Pictures on several horror movies.

He struck up his friendship with Ms Johnson when he wrote a book, Sally: Face Like A Flower, about her daughter, who was a talented artist with Down's syndrome who died four years ago.

Ms Johnson said: "I will remember him as a very kind, caring, friendly person."