Sports editor John Cornforth is retiring after 16 years with the Shields Gazette - and proving it's never too late to change horses in mid-life.

John, a grandfather of six, has reached the ripe old age of 65 and will be settling into a life of retirement at his Whitley Bay home.

Sports journalism was a complete turnaround for John (right) as he originally started out painting and decorating with his dad after leaving school at 15.

Among the more unusual assignments was painting cranes in shipyards, factories and lighthouses.

He did National Service at the age of 19 when he was conscripted into the Royal Engineers before moving on to spend two years in the Royal Military Police, and was one of the troops assigned to protect oil wells in Bharain in 1958 after the unrest in Iraq when King Faisal and his family were murdered.

Running his own small building firm, he also became manager of Marden Athletic football club, which earned promotion and won their League Cup in his first year in charge, and they also picked up the league shield in the higher division the season after.

Newcastle United fan John first began writing junior football reports in his 40s after his five sons began playing the game and he realised there was no newspaper coverage.

Offered a freelance job for the News Post leader and Guardian, at 48 he was then offered the position of sports sub-writer then sports editor of the Shields Gazette.

His son John went on to be a professional footballer, earning international honours for Wales and playing for Sunderland, Birmingham and Wrexham before managing Exeter.

Editor John Szymanski said: "John Snr - at 6ft 5in - is a larger than life character in every sense of the word and he will be sorely missed in the newsroom. We all wish him well."