A former regional newspaper journalist who became a household name as a television presenter in the North-West has lost his battle with cancer.

Bob Greaves started out as a journalist on the Sale and Stretford Guardian, before working at the Nottingham Evening News and the Manchester office of the Daily Mail, then moving into television.

He worked for Granada television from the 1960s to the late 1990s and was the host of Granada Reports from its launch in 1973, once estimating he had presented 12,000 live shows for the company.

Bob, who was known as ‘Mr Granada’, lost his battle with cancer on Monday at the age of 76 surrounded by his family.

He became an unintentional star of outtake shows after an incident where an elephant began getting over-friendly with him while he was broadcasting from Chester Zoo in 1981.

BBC Director North Peter Salmon, who previously worked with Bob at Granada, said: “Bob Greaves was one of the region’s on-screen greats. I had the pleasure of watching him in the seventies and eighties as a viewer on Granada Reports before working with him in the nineties.

“He made live broadcasting look effortless and had a tremendous range – able to tackle the big story with authority and the quirky item with warmth.”