A long-serving local newspaper journalist has died at the age of 84.

Former Nottingham Evening Post man Bill Ivory died in his sleep at the weekend after suffering a stroke on Thursday.

He started work at the Post as a reporter and later became news editor and, shortly before his retirement, assistant editor.

He took early retirement from the paper in 1989 to take care of his wife, Edna, who had motor neurone disease.

Evening Post journalist Jeremy Lewis, who was Bill's deputy for two years in the early 1980s, said: "Bill retired as assistant editor of the paper, but he is best remembered for his long stint as news editor.

"His great strength was his efficiency. He took pride in running an all-seeing, all-knowing newsdesk, and if a reporter missed a story they knew to duck for cover. He was strong on professional discipline and could deliver a withering dressing-down, but he was also a cultivated man.

"He loved the theatre and classical music and as a cricketer he was a lively seamer, even well into middle age."

Bill and Edna had three children - Lorraine, Sally-Ann, and their youngest William, the Nottingham playwright and actor, and seven grandchildren, aged between nine and 18.

Son-in-law Drew Borrett said: "He was a keen cricketer and he played for Upton for many years. He loved watching sport and reading, especially biographies. Most of his hobbies involved the news!"

He was also a lover of classical music and often attended concerts at Nottingham venues the Albert Hall and Theatre Royal.