A FORMER features writer for The Northern Echo has died, aged 80.

Ken Calcutt joined the newspaper in 1964 after a distinguished career in the armed forces. He stayed for 20 years.

Born in Normanton, West Yorkshire, Mr Calcutt was a commissioned officer in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

After the war he got the chance to join the Fleet Air Arm, where he wrote for a naval magazine.

He retired from the Royal Navy in 1964 and successfully applied for a job on The Northern Echo, moving to Toronto, near Bishop Auckland.

He was the newspaper's northern air correspondent, and his job as a features writer took him all over the world, including the Far East.

He retired in 1984, aged 65, and moved back to Wakefield in 1988.

His son, David Calcutt, who still lives in the region, said his father remembered his time at The Northern Echo with fondness.

He said: "My wife and I went down to see him last week and he was really ill, but when we mentioned we were talking to Derek Fox, who used to work with him, he said 'them were the days'.

"He loved his job at The Northern Echo".

Grandson Andrew, who did some work experience on The Northern Echo, is following in his grandfather's footsteps, having just qualified as an aircraft mechanic with the Fleet Air Arm.

Mr Calcutt died on Friday after a battle against lung cancer. His funeral is in Wakefield on Wednesday