Former Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Barrie Farnill has died in hospital aged 77.

Born in Leeds, Mr Farnill retired as assistant editor (features) in 1988, after 41 years with the paper.

In 1970 he launched the John Wellington diary column, which soon became one of the paper’s main features.

Malcolm Barker, editor of the Evening Post from 1970 to 1987, said: “Barrie gave notable service throughout his long career.

“Nothing pleased him more than a good old-fashioned scoop and several of his were famous, like revelations in the 1950s about a bogus surgeon who had been operating in Leeds General Infirmary, and his publication of a map showing the preferred route of a proposed A1/M1 link to the west of Leeds.”

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