AN ELDERLY poet and campaigner has turned computer boffin to communicate with the world.

Despite never having used even a typewriter before, 78-year-old James Watt-Taylor took to computers like a duck to water.

He so impressed staff at the Grove Hill Resource Centre, in Middlesbrough, that they put him forward for an RSA computer literacy and information technology exam.

The great-grandfather has proved his keyboard prowess by passing with flying colours.

He said his new found pastime gives him hours of pleasure.

"I send my poems by e-mail to enter poetry competitions in America, and I also regularly e-mail my friends in Australia who are campaigning for a better deal for pensioners," he said.

Mr Watt-Taylor's enthusiasm for computers has proved so infectious that it has prompted his daughter Dorothy to follow suit in signing up for a course.

He said: "It has turned into a real family affair."