After more than 30 years at the South Wales Argus, business editor Nigel Jarrett is to retire.

And with such a vast experience of the daily goings on in a newsroom, he is planning to put his experience to good use and write a book about it.

Nigel will leaves the Newport-based paper in December, and is planning to devote his time to one of his other passions, writing fiction.

He is currently in the middle of writing a novel about a weekly newspaper and the conflict and frictions which evolve within it.

Nigel said: "It is set to be published in the summer of next year, and now that I am leaving I hope to get it finished at last."

Although Nigel has written numerous other fictional tales, this will be the first novel he has ever had published.

He said: "I had a story published I had co-written in the early 1990s about a Victorian writer, but the one I am working on at the moment will be the first one of my own."

Nigel joined the Argus in 1971 after years of freelancing for a number of the national newspapers, including the Guardian and the Sunday Times, but began his career in his home patch of South Wales.

He said: "I went to Cardiff University first of all to actually study biology, believe it or not, but my love for writing took over and I headed into newspapers.

"I spent four years picking it up at the Pontypridd Free Press, then did the freelance work before moving on to the Argus, where I've been ever since.

"When I leave, I am looking forward to getting stuck into my writing and also playing the piano more at home, which I love.

"The book is nearly done, so I will finish that and then go on from there."

Nigel will leave the Argus on December 21.

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