A journalist whose career at the Press Association spanned five decades has died aged 81.

Reg Evans started his career as a tea boy on the old Daily Graphic, before working on a weekly paper in North-East London.

He then joined the Exchange Telegraph, in those days PA’s rival home agency, at the age of 23, and worked at the joint PA/Extel law courts service, of which he later became editor.

Eventually joining the PA staff, he went on to become its associate editor for 18 years and as such was a key figure in charge of the agency’s news, sport and picture output.

Former PA political editor Chris Moncrieff remembers:  “What particularly delighted him about this role was that it strictly involved no administrative duties.

“He used to say how as he walked into the office, he was wondering what big stories ”would excite us today”. In fact Evans was at the centre of every big news story that broke during his nearly 20-year stint as associate editor.”

During his long career he was also news editor of the 1970 general election campaign coverage and after that was appointed as PA’s first weekend editor.

Another claim to fame was that during his two-year National Service he became one of the last newspapermen running a daily paper for British and American troops in Trieste.  He retired from the Press Association in 1991.