A veteran south Wales journalist has died aged 73.

John O’Sullivan enjoyed a 34-year career working for the South Wales Echo, the Barry Herald where he became editor in 1958, the Daily Mail and the BBC.

He covered the 1966 Aberfan disaster when a landslide at a colliery waste tip killed 144 people, including 116 children at a local primary school.

He also reported on more than 100 murders and campaigned for posthumous pardons for two hanged men and for better hospital hygiene after contracting MRSA in 1998.

John’s brother Denis said: “John had a reputation as a hard-working journalist.

“The other outstanding thing was his faith… [it was] a major part of his life. He was also devoted to his grandchildren.

“He was not just a hard-working journalist, he was a journalist who always got the good stories.”

Western Mail columnist and former colleague Steve Groves said: “What you always got from John O’Sullivan was commitment.

“If he took up a cause, he’d see it through to the end.

“He was one of the great Welsh newspaper journalists of his generation.”

John also had seven books published on south Wales including illustrated histories of Cardiff, Newport and Swansea.

He also worked as a clerk-typist in the RAF, a bus conductor and pleasure park showman.

John became ill in May and had been a patient since November at the University Hospital of Wales.

He was one of six children and is survived by his son Dominic and four grandchildren.