A former assistant editor at the Sheffield Star is refusing to spend his retirement pottering around the garden.

Instead he’s compiling a series of books charting the city’s proud history.

Peter Goodman’s first book, Headline Sheffield, has now been published and work has started on the follow-up.

Headline Sheffield follows a year of research at the Star’s archive library – and Peter is pleased with the result.

He said: “I had been writing a series of bygones features for the Star and they approached me about putting together a book for people to own.”

But rather than simply giving a chronological history of the steel city, Peter chose a different approach for his book.

“Instead of going through the years one by one, I’ve divided the book into themed sections. In each section, there are reproductions of stories from the last one hundred years,” he said.

“The good thing is that when you’re reading it, you don’t know what you’re going to be reading about next. It’s this aspect of the book that sets it apart from other books in the same genre.”

Putting the book together was a labour of love which he thoroughly enjoyed.

He said: “I enjoyed going through the Star records, it was truly fascinating.”

The book is hardback and has over 250 pages. Priced at £14.99, it can be bought from the Star offices and ordered through WH Smith or Waterstones.

Peter began his career as a trainee on the Ilkeston Pioneer in 1957 before moving to the Worthing Herald in 1960 to become a sports reporter.

He left in 1965 to freelance for a sports agency in Barnsley and in 1966 moved to the Sheffield Star where he remained for the rest of his career.

Peter was news editor from 1971-77 and then assistant editor until his “retirement” in 1997.

But he still has something of a workload – writing “looking back” style pieces for the Star and researching and writing his books. He also does two days a week at a local PR firm.

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