Former president of the Newspaper Society, John Aldridge, has been awarded the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

He started out in the newspaper industry as a tea boy at the Grimsby Evening Telegraph and rose to become president of the Newspaper Society, the organisation which represents and promotes the interests of more than 1,300 UK regional newspapers.

Mr Aldridge was also general manager of the South Wales Evening Post. In 1989 he was appointed as a director of Northcliffe Newspapers and became Chairman of the Leicester Mercury Group in 1991. He retired in 1997.

He is also a Methodist lay preacher and last year was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Leicestershire in recognition of his services to the county.

He said he was “very honoured” to receive the award.

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