A former regional daily editor who later became one of the oldest students in the country to gain a Master of Arts degree has died aged 86.

Tom Hoy stepped down as editor of the Gloucestershire Echo back in 1983, having previously been assistant editor at the Hull Daily Mail.

But after retiring to his native North Yorkshire Tom embarked on an academic career which saw him studying at Hull University until he was well into his 80s.

Though dogged by ill-health, he battled his way through cancer, a broken leg and a couple of heart attacks to gain his MA four years ago, having already obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree.

Tom told his local paper, the Scarborough Evening News, at the time: “I’m quite chuffed at my age to get through. I did my dissertation on Winston Churchill and his impact on the Anglo-American special relationship.”

He had earlier obtained his BA degree in cultural and social studies with religious studies at the university’s Scarborough campus.

During his studies he had to break off to spend five months in hospital with mouth cancer where his treatment involved the removal of half his lower jaw.

Around the same time he also broke his leg and later while studying for his Masters degree he suffered two heart attacks.

“The only thing that seems to be working properly is my old brain,” he told the Evening News in 2005.

“I don’t think I will be doing any more degrees unless anything else takes my fancy. I will be spending a bit more doing enjoying my hobby, which is painting.”

The University of Hull said at the time that Tom was “probably one of the oldest people to get both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts degree in the whole country.”

Tom leaves a son, a daughter, eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

His wife Joyce predeceased him in 1994.