A journalist described as one of the “finest writers ever” to work on a regional daily has died aged 79.

Tributes have been paid to Peter Storah, formerly of the Lancashire Telegraph, who went on to a career in the national press.

Peter, left, trained on his hometown newspaper the Todmorden Advertiser before joining the Telegraph in the early 1960s.

He was one of the launch team of the now-defunct Burnley Evening Star newspaper in 1965, and came to be known as ‘Mr Evening Star’ across its patch.

In July 1970 Peter flew to Barcelona to cover the aftermath of a plane crash in Spain, in which 38 people from the East Lancashire area perished.

Alan Simpson, deputy editor of the Telegraph, described his reporting from near the crash site as “probably his most emotional pieces.”

Alan told the paper: “Peter’s reports from the little town of Arbucias, near to where the plane had crashed into mountains, were heartbreaking yet the prose was both beautifully and tastefully created.”

“Around the Burnley area Peter was ‘Mr Evening Star’ and he cultivated an army of contacts from all walks of life. He was one of the finest writers ever at the Lancashire Telegraph.”

In the 1980s he became a sub-editor on the Daily Star, later moving onto the Daily Sport. For many years he also wrote a humorous weekly column called ‘Storah Says’, about life in Burnley.

Former Burnley MP and council leader Peter Pike said: “I knew Peter very well but everybody in the town did in the 1970s and 1980s.”

Outisde of journalism he was an accomplished pianist, who met Joan, his wife of 58 years, at music lessons.

He passed away surrounded by his family earlier this month, after a short illness.

Peter is also survived by two children, Caroline, 54, a journalist, and Christopher, 53, as well as grandchildren, Thomas, 23, Lucy 21, Oliver, 20 and Abigail, 18.

His funeral will be held at noon tomorrow at Burnley Crematorium.