A former journalist who spent almost his whole career at the same weekly newspaper has died at the age of 86.

Philip Young joined the Watford Observer after serving with the RAF in the Second World War and stayed there until his retirement at the age of 65.

His career in journalism had started when he was just 14-years-old when he took a job as a trainee reporter in Hemel Hempstead.

Philip died suddenly at home in Norfolk last month and leaves a wife and two daughters.

He joined the Watford Observer’s Berkhamsted office after serving in the war as a leading aircraftman.

Philip spent many years editing the title’s Hemel Hempstead pages before becoming features editor.

Former Watford Observer sports editor Oli Phillips said: “He was a very big man with a big personality and a big booming voice to match.

“He was also very jolly man who you rarely saw without a pipe in his mouth – he would smoke it all day long and would even type with it firmly wedged in the side of his mouth.”

Last year, Philip published a humorous autobiography called The Life and Times of Brother Juniper.