Travellers’ friend Arthur Eperon, who died earlier this month, began his career in the regional press.

Best known for the best-selling Traveller’s France, which he followed up with Traveller’s Britain, he was one of the country’s leading travel writers.

He joined the Steatham News as a trainee but his career was interrupted by the war, when he served in the RAF before being taken prisoner and was one of the prisoners in Stalag Luft 3 who fooled the German guards in one of the great escapes by jumping over the famous wooden horse.

He was able to join the Daily Herald when he came back from the war, because of his NUJ card, working alongside Michael Foot and John Betjeman.

He became travel editor and left for The Sun in 1969, using his well-honed expertise to create a direct, journalistic approach to the travel column.

After leaving newspapers he became a consultant to ITV’s Wish You Were Here, then published the bestseller Traveller’s France and a host of follow-ups, as well as contributing columns to magazines and newspapers.

He died on October 11, aged 80.

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