Former Clitheroe Advertiser and Times editor John Loynds has died.

He spent 47 years as a journalist, retiring as deputy editor of The Universe, the national Roman Catholic weekly newspaper based in London.

Born in Clitheroe, he left Preston Catholic College to become a junior reporter on the Advertiser and Times in 1938.

A disability prevented him from war service, but his weekly column, "This is the Griff" under the pseudonym "Lance-Jack," kept hundreds of Clitheroe servicemen in touch with each other and home.

After the war John joined the Manchester Evening News as a sub-editor and some years later moved to The Universe.

In 1951 he returned to Clitheroe and the Manchester Evening News, and in the mid-50s he became editor of the Clitheroe Advertiser and Times.

After three years he rejoined The Universe as assistant news editor and later became assistant editor and then deputy editor.

In 2004 he suffered a stroke and was admitted to a nursing home near Wigan where he was later joined by his wife Betty, who died last year.

He is survived by three daughters.